[iia 


C.  P.  VOLNEY, 


THE  RUINS, 

OR,    MEDITATION    ON    THK 

REVOLUTIONS  OF  EMPIRES: 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE, 


C.    F.   VOLNEY, 

COMTE  ET  PAIR  DE  FRANCE,  COMMANDEUR  DE  LA  LEGION  D'HONNEUR,  MEMBRE 
DE  L'ACADEMIE  FRANCAISB,  ET  DE  PLUSIEURS  AUTRES  SOCIET£S  SAVANTES. 

DEPUTY  TO  THE  NATIONAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  1789,  AND  AUTHOR  OF  ''TRAVELS  IN 
EGYPT  AND  SYRIA,"  "  NEW  RESEARCHES  ON  ANCIENT  HISTORY,"  ETC. 


TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED 


VOLNEY'S  ANSWER  TO  DR.  PRIESTLY,  A  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE 

BY  COUNT  DARU,  AND  THE  ZODIACAL  SIGNS  AND  CON- 

STELLATIONS BY  THE  EDITOR. 


I  will  cherish  in  remembrance  the  love  of  man,  I  will  employ  myself  on 
the  means  of  effecting  good  for  him,  and  build  my  own  happiness  on 
the  promotion  of  his. —  Volney. 


NEW  YORK: 

PETER  ECKLER,  35  FULTON  STREET. 
1890. 


PUBLISHER'S   PREFACE. 


HAVING  recently  purchased  a  set  of  stereotyped  plates 
of  Volney's  Ruins,  with  a  view  of  reprinting  the  same, 
I  found,  on  examination,  that  they  were  considerably 
worn  by  the  many  editions  that  had  been  printed  from  them, 
and  that  they  greatly  needed  both  repairs  and  corrections. 
A  careful  estimate  showed  that  the  amount  necessary  for  this 
purpose  would  go  far  towards  reproducing  this  standard  work 
in  modern  type  and  in  an  improved  form.  After  due  reflection 
this  course  was  at  length  decided  upon,  and  all  the  more 
readily,  as  by  discarding  the  old  plates  and  resetting  the 
entire  work,  the  publisher  was  enabled  to  greatly  enhance  its 
value,  by  inserting  the  translator's  preface  as  it  appeared  in 
the  original  edition,  and  also  to  restore  many  notes  and  other 
valuable  material  which  had  been  carelessly  omitted  in  the 
American  reprint. 

An  example  of  an  important  omission  of  this  kind  may  be 
found  on  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  pages  of  this 
volume,  which  may  be  appropriately  referred  to  in  this  con- 
nection. It  is  there  stated,  in  describing  the  ancient  kingdom 
of  Ethiopia,  and  the  ruins  of  Thebes,  her  opulent  metropolis, 
that  "  There  a  people,  now  forgotten,  discovered,  while  others 
were  yet  barbarians,  the  elements  of  the  arts  and  sciences. 
A  race  of  men,  now  rejected  from  society  for  their  sable 
skin  and  frizzled  hair,  founded  on  the  study  of  the  laws  of 
nature,  those  civil  and  religious  systems  which  still  govern 
the  universe." 

A  voluminous  note,  in  which  standard  authorities  are  cited, 
seems  to  prove  that  this  statement  is  substantially  correct, 
and  that  we  are  in  reality  indebted  to  the  ancient  Ethiopians, 
to  the  fervid  imagination  of  the  persecuted  and  despised  negro, 
for  the  various  religious  systems  now  so  highly  revered  by 
the  different  branches  of  both  the  Semitic  and  Aryan  races. 
This  fact,  which  is  so  frequently  referred  to  in  Mr.  Volney's 
writings,  may  perhaps  solve  the  question  as  to  the  origin  of 


IV  PUBLISHER  S   PREFACE.  , 

all  religions,  and  may  even  suggest  a  solution  to  the  secret  so 
long  concealed  beneath  the  flat  nose,  thick  lips,  and  negro 
features  of  the  Egyptian  Sphinx.  It  may  also  confirm  the 
statement  of  Dioderus,  that  "  the  Ethiopians  conceive  them- 
selves as  the  inventors  of  divine  worship,  of  festivals,  of  solemn 
assemblies,  of  sacrifices,  and  of  every  other  religious  practice." 
That  an  imaginative  and  superstitious  race  of  black  men 
should  have  invented  and  founded,  in  the  dim  obscurity  of 
past  ages,  a  system  of  religious  belief  that  still  enthralls  the 
minds  and  clouds  the  intellects  of  the  leading  representatives 
of  modern  theology, —  that  still  clings  to  the  thoughts,  and 
tinges  with  its  potential  influence  the  literature  and  faith 
of  the  civilized  and  cultured  nations  of  Europe  and  America, 
is  indeed  a  strange  illustration  of  the  mad  caprice  of  destiny, 
of  the  insignificant  and  apparently  trivial  causes  that  oft  pro- 
duce the  most  grave  and  momentous  results. 

The  translation  ^here  given  closely  follows  that  published  in 
Paris  by  Levrault,  Quai  Malaquais,  in  1802,  which  was  under 
the  direction  and  careful  supervision  of  the  talented  author; 
and  whatever  notes  Count  Volney  then  thought  necessary  to 
insert  in  his  work,  are  here  carefully  reproduced  without 
abridgment  or  modification. 

The  portrait,  maps  and  illustrations  are  from  a  French 
edition  of  Volney's  complete  works,  published  by  Bossange 
Freres  at  No.  12  Rue  de  Seine,  Paris,  in  1821, — one  year  after 
the  death  of  Mr.  Volney.  It  is  a  presentation  copy  "  on  the 
part  of  Madame,  the  Countess  de  Volney,  and  of  the  nephew 
of  the  author,"  and  it  may  therefore  be  taken  for  granted  that 
Mr.  Volney's  portrait,  as  here  given,  is  correct,  and  was  sat- 
isfactory to  his  family. 

An  explanation  of  the  figures  and  diagrams  shown  on  the 
map  of  the  Astrological  Heaven  of  the  Ancients  has  been 
added  in  the  appendix  by  the  publisher. 

PETER  ECKLER. 
New  York,  January  j,  1890. 


TRANSLATOR'S   PREFACE 


OF    THE   ENGLISH    EDITION    PUBLISHED    IN   PARIS. 


r  offer  the  public  a  new  translation  of  Volney's  Ruins 
may  require  some  apology  in  the- view  of  those  who 
are  acquainted  with  the  work  only  in  the  English  version 
which  already  exists,  and  which  has  had  a  general  circulation. 
But  those  who  are  conversant  with  the  book  in  the  author's 
own  language,  and  have  taken  pains  to  compare  it  with  that 
version,  must  have  been  struck  with  the  errors  with  which 
the  English  performance  abounds.  They  must  have  regretted 
the  loss  of  many  original  beauties,  some  of  which  go  far  in 
composing  the  essential  merits  of  the  work. 

The  energy  and  dignity  of  the  author's  manner,  the  unaffect- 
ed elevation  of  his  style,  the  conciseness,  perspicuity  and 
simplicity  of  his  diction,  are  everywhere  suited  to  his  subject, 
which  is  solemn,  novel,  luminous,  affecting, — a  subject  per- 
haps the  most  universally  interesting  to  the  human  race  that 
has  ever  been  presented  to  their  contemplation.  It  takes  the 
most  liberal  and  comprehensive  view  of  the  social  state  of 
man,  develops  the  sources  of  his  errors  in  the  most  perspicu- 
ous and  convincing  manner,  overturns  his  prejudices  with  the 
greatest  delicacy  and  moderation,  sets  the  wrongs  he  has 
suffered,  and  the  rights  he  ought  to  cherish,  in.  the  clearest 


VI  PREFACE  OF  THE  PARIS   EDITION. 

point  of  view,  and  lays  before  him  the  true  foundation  of 
morals — his  only  means  of  happiness. 

As  the  work  has  already  become  a  classical  one,  even  in 
English,  and  as  it  must  become  and  continue  to  be  so  re- 
garded in  all  languages  in  which  it  shall  be  faithfully  rendered, 
we  wish  it  to  suffer  as  little  as  possible  from  a  change  of 
country ; — that  as  much  of  the  spirit  of  the  original  be  trans- 
fused and  preserved  as  is  consistent  with  the  nature  of 
translation. 

How  far  we  have  succeeded  in  performing  this  service  for 
the  English  reader  we  must  not  pretend  to  determine.  We 
believe,  however,  that  we  have  made  an  improved  translation, 
and  this  without  claiming  any  particular  merit  on  our  part, 
since  we  have  had  advantages  which  our  predecessor  had 
not.  We  have  been  aided  by  his  labors;  and,  what  is  of 
still  more  importance,  our  work  has  been  done  under  the 
inspection  of  the  author,  whose  critical  knowledge  of  both 
languages  has  given  us  a  great  facility  in  avoiding  such 
errors  as  might  arise  from  hurry  or  mistake. 

Paris,  November  I,  1802. 


PREFACE   OF   THE   LONDON   EDITION.* 


rT"'HE  plan  of  this  publication  was  formed  nearly  ten  years 
ago ;  and  allusions  to  it  may  be  seen  in  the  preface  to 
Travels  in  Syria  and  Egypt,  as  well  as  at  the  end  of  that 
work,  (published  in  1787).  The  performance  was  in  some 
forwardness  when  the  events  of  1788  in  France  interrupted  it. 
Persuaded  that  a  development  of  the  theory  of  political  truth 
could  not  sufficiently  acquit  a  citizen  of  his  debt  to  society, 
the  author  wished  to  add  practice  ;  and  that  particularly  at  a 
time  when  a  single  arm  was  of  consequence  in  the  defence  of 
the  general  cause. 

The  same  desire  of  public  benefit  which  induced  him  to 
suspend  his  work,  has  since  engaged  him  to  resume  it,  and 
though  it  may  not  possess  the  same  merit  as  if  it  had  appeared 
under  the  circumstances  that  gave  rise  to  it,  yet  he  imagines 
that  at  a  time  when  new  passions  are  bursting  forth, — passions 
that  must  communicate  their  activity  to  the  religious  opinions 
of  men, — it  is  of  importance  to  disseminate  such  moral  truths 
as  are  calculated  to  operate  as  a  curb  and  restraint.  It  is  with 
this  view  he  has  endeavored  to  give  to  these  truths,  hitherto 
treated  as  abstract,  a  form  likely  to  gain  them  a  reception. 

It  was  found  impossible  not  to  shock  the  violent  preju- 
dices of  some  readers ;  but  the  work,  so  far  from  being  the 
fruit  of  a  disorderly  and  perturbed  spirit,  has  been  dictated 
by  a  sincere  love  of  order  and  humanity. 

After  reading  this  performance  it  will  be  asked,  how  it  was 
possible  in  1784  to  have  had  an  idea  of  what  did  not  take  place 
till  the  year  1790?  The  solution  is  simple.  In  the  original 
plan  the  legislator  was  a  fictitious  and  hypothetical  being : 
in  the  present,  the  author  has  substituted  an  existing  legisla- 
tor; and  the  reality  has  only  made  the  subject  additionally 
interesting. 

*  Published  by  T.  Allman,  42  Holborn  Hill,  London,  1851.  -      • 

J^L*    L-<— •-»•'*•'"    i/-*— — $-v~* 
x     O 


PREFACE  OF  THE  AMERICAN  EDITION* 


IF  books  were  to  be  judged  of  by  their  volume,  the  following 
would  have  but  little  value ;  if  appraised  by  their  contents, 
it  will  perhaps  be  reckoned  among  the  most  instructive. 

In  general,  nothing  is  more  important  than  a  good  elemen- 
tary book ;  but,  also,  nothing  is  more  difficult  to  compose  and 
even  to  read :  and  why  ?  Because,  as  every  thing  in  it  should 
be  analysis  and  definition,  all  should  be  expressed  with  truth 
and  precision.  If  truth  and  precision  are  wanting,  the  object 
has  not  been  attained ;  if  they  exist,  its  very  force  renders  it 
abstract. 

The  first  of  these  defects  has  been  hitherto  evident  in  all 
books  of  morality.  We  find  in  them  only  a  chaos  of  incoherent 
maxims,  precepts  without  causes,  and  actions  without  a  mo- 
tive. The  pedants  of  the  human  race  have  treated  it  like  a 
little  child:  they  have  prescribed  to  it  good  behavior  by 
frightening  it  with  spirits  and  hobgoblins.  Now  that  the 
growth  of  the  human  race  is  rapid,  it  is  time  to  speak  reason 
to  it ;  it  is  time  to  prove  to  men  that  the  springs  of  their  im- 
provement are  to  be  found  in  their  very  organization,  in  the 
interest  of  their  passions,  and  in  all  that  composes  their  ex- 

*  The  copy  from  which  this  preface  is  reprinted  was  published  in  Boston  by 
Charles  Gaylord,  in  1833.  It  was  given  to  the  writer,  when  a  mere  lad,  by  a  lady 
—  almost  a  stranger — who  was  traveling  through  the  little  hamlet  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson  where  he  then  resided.  This  lady  assured  me  that  the  book  was 
of  great  value,  containing  noble  and  sublime  truths  ;  and  the  only  condition  she 
attached  to  the  gift  was,  that  I  should  read  it  carefully  and  endeavor  to  under- 
stand its  meaning.  This  I  willingly  promised  and  faithfully  performed  ;  and  all 
who  have  "  climbed  the  heights,"  and  escaped  from  the  thraldom  of  superstitious 
faith,  will  concede  the  inestimable  value  of  such  a  gift  — rich  with  the  peace  and 
consolation  that  the  truth  imparts. — Pub, 


X  PREFACE  OF  THE  AMERICAN   EDITION. 

istence.  It  is  time  to  demonstrate  that  morality  is  a  physical 
and  geometrical  science,  subject  to  the  rules  and  calcula- 
tions of  the  other  mathematical  sciences :  and  such  is  the 
advantage  of  the  system  expounded  in  this  book,  that  the 
basis  of  morality  being  laid  in  it  on  the  very  nature  of  things, 
it  is  both  constant  and  immutable ;  whereas,  in  all  other  theo- 
logical systems,  morality  being  built  upon  arbritary  opinions, 
not  demonstrable  and  often  absurd,  it  changes,  decays,  expires 
with  them,  and  leaves  men  in  an  absolute  depravation.  It  is 
true  that  because  our  system  is  founded  on  facts  and  not  on 
reveries,  it  will  with  much  greater  difficulty  be  extended  and 
adopted :  but  it  will  derive  strength  from  this  very  struggle, 
and  sooner  or  later  the  eternal  religion  of  Nature  must  over- 
turn the  transient  religions  of  the  human  mind. 

This  book  was  published  for  the  first  time  in  1793,  under 
the  title  of  The  French  Citizeris  Catechism,  It  was  at  first 
intended  for  a  national  work,  but  as  it  may  be  equally  well 
entitled  the  Catechism  of  men  of  sense  and  honor,  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  it  will  become  a  book  common  to  all  Europe.  It 
is  possible  that  its  brevity  may  prevent  it  from  attaining  the 
object  of  a  popular  classical  work,  but  the  author  will  be  sat- 
isfied if  he  has  at  least  the  merit  of  pointing  out  the  way  to 
make  a  better. 


Advertisement  of  the  American  Edition. 


VOLNEY'S  RUINS; 

OR,  MEDITATION  ON  THE  REVOLUTIONS  OF  EMPIRES. 

THE  superior  merits  of  this  work  are  too  well  known  to 
require  commendation ;  but  as  it  is  not  generally  known 
that  there  are  in  circulation  three  English  translations 
of  it,  varying  materially  in  regard  to  faithfulness  and  elegance 
of  diction,  the  publisher  of  the  present  edition  inserts  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  for  the  information  of  purchasers  and  readers : 

PARIS  TRANSLATION, 
First  published  in  this  Country  by  Dixon  and  Sickels. 

INVOCATION. 

HAIL,  solitary  ruins !  holy  sepulchres,  and  silent  walls !  you  I  invoke  ;  to  you  I 
address  my  prayer.  While  your  aspect  averts,  with  secret  terror,  the  vulgar 
regard,  it  excites  in  my  heart  the  charm  of  delicious  sentiments  —  sublime  con- 
templations. What  useful  lessons  !  what  affecting  and  profound  reflections  you 
suggest  to  him  who  knows  how  to  consult  you.  When  the  whole  earth,  in  chains 
and  silence,  bowed  the  neck  before  its  tyrants,  you  had  already  proclaimed  the 
truths  which  they  abhor,  and  confounding  the  dust  of  the  king  with  that  of  the 
meanest  slave,  had  announced  to  man  the  sacred  dogma  of  Equality !  Within  your 
pale,  in  solitary  adoration  of  Liberty,  I  saw  her  Genius  arise  from  the  mansions 
of  the  dead  ;  not  such  as  she  is  painted  by  the  impassioned  multitude,  armed  with 
fire  and  sword,  but  under  the  august  aspect  of  Justice,  poising  in  her  hand  the 
sacred  balance,  whereinare  weighed  the  actions  of  men  at  the  gates  of  eternity. 

O  Tombs !  what  virtues  are  yours  !  you  appal  the  tyrant's  heart,  and  poison 
with  secret  alarm  his  impious  joys  ;  he  flies,  with  coward  step,  your  incorruptible 
aspect,  and  erects  afar  his  throne  of  insolence. 

I*"  LONDON  TRANSLATION.     *^ 

INVOCATION. 

Solitary  ruins,  sacred  tombs,  ye  mouldering  and  silent  walls,  all  hail !  To  you  I 
address  my  invocation.  While  the  vulgar  shrink  from  your  aspect  with  secret 
terror,  my  heart  finds  in  the  contemplation  a  thousand  delicious  sentiments,  a 
thousand  admirable  recollections.  Pregnant,  I  may  truly  call  you,  with  useful 
lessons,  with  pathetic  and  irresistible  advice  to  the  man  who  knows  how  to  consult 
you.  Awhile  ago  the  whole  world  bowed  the  neck  in  silence  before  the  tyrants 
that  oppressed  it ;  and  yet  in  that  hopeless  moment  you  already  proclaimed  the 
truths  that  tyrants  hold  in  abhorrence :  mixing  the  dust  of  the  proudest  kings 
with  that  of  the  meanest  slaves,  you  called  upon  us  to  contemplate  this  example 
of  Equality.  From  your  caverns,  whither  the  musing  and  anxious  love  of  Liberty 
led  me,  I  saw  escape  its  venerable  shade,  and  with  unexpected  felicity,  direct  its 
flight  and  marshal  my  steps  the  way  to  renovated  France. 


Xll  ADVERTISEMENT. 

Tombs !  what  virtues  and  potency  do  you  exhibit !  Tyrants  tremble  at  your 
aspect  —  you  poison  with  secret  alarm  their  impious  pleasures  —  they  turn  from 
you  with  impatience,  and,  coward  like,  endeavor  to  forget  you  amid  the  sumptu- 
ousness  of  their  palaces. 

PHILADELPHIA  TRANSLATION. 

INVOCATION. 

Hail,  ye  solitary  ruins,  ye  sacred  tombs,  and  silent  walls  !  "Tis  your  auspicious 
aid  that  I  invoke  ;  'tis  to  you  my  soul,  wrapt  in  meditation,  pours  forth  its  prayers ! 
What  though  the  profane  and  vulgar  mind  shrinks  with  dismay  from  your  august 
and  awe-inspiring  aspect ;  to  me  you  unfold  the  sublimest  charms  of  contempla- 
tion and  sentiment,  and  offer  to  my  senses  the  luxury  of  a  thousand  delicious 
and  enchanting  thoughts  !  How  sumptuous  the  /east  to  a  being  that  has  a  taste 
to  relish,  and  an  understanding  to  consult  you  !  What  rich  and  noble  admo- 
nitions ;  what  exquisite  and  pathetic  lessons  do  you  read  to  a  heart  that  is  sus- 
ceptible of  exalted  feelings !  When  oppressed  humanity  bent  in  timid  silence 
throughout  the  globe  beneath  the  galling  yoke  of  slavery-,  it  was  you  that  pro- 
claimed aloud  the  birthright  of  those  truths  which  tyrants  tremble  at  while  they 
detect,  and  which,  by  sinking  the  loftiest  head  of  the  proudest  potentate,  with  all 
his  boasted  pageantry,  to  the  level  of  mortality  with  his  meanest  slave,  confirmed 
and  ratified  by  your  unerring  testimony  the  sacred  and  immortal  doctrine  of 
Equality. 

Musing  within  the  precincts  of  your  inviting  scenes  of  philosophic  solitude, 
whither  the  insatiate  love  of -true-born  Liberty  had  led  me,  I  beheld  her  Genius 
ascending,  not  in  the  spurious  character  and  habit  of  a  blood-thirsty  Fury,  armed 
with  daggers  and  instruments  of  murder,  and  followed  by  a  frantic  and  intoxicated 
multitude,  but  under  the  placid  and  chaste  aspect  of  Justice,  holding  with  a  pure 
and  unsullied  hand  the  sacred  scales  in  which  the  actions  of  mortals  are  weighed 
on  the  brink  of  eternity. 

The  first  translation  was  made  and  published  in  London 
soon  after  the  appearance  of  the  work  in  French,  and,  by  a 
late  edition,  is  still  adopted  without  alteration.  Mr.  Volney, 
when  in  this  country  in  1797,  expressed  his  disapprobation 
of  this  translation,  alleging  that  the  translator  must  have  been 
overawed  by  the  government  or  clergy  from  rendering  his 
ideas  faithfully  ;  and,  accordingly,  an  English  gentleman, 
then  in  Philadelphia,  volunteered  to  correct  this  edition.  But 
by  his  endeavors  to  give  the  true  and  full  meaning  of  the 
author  with  great  precision,  he  has  so  overloaded  his  compo- 
sition with  an  exuberance  of  words,  as  in  a  great  measure  to 
dissipate  the  simple  elegance  and  sublimity  of  the  original. 
Mr.  Volney,  when  he  became  better  acquainted  with  the 
English  language,  perceived  this  defect ;  and  with  the  aid  of 
our  countryman,  Joel  Barlow,  made  and  published  in  Paris 
a  new,  correct,  and  elegant  translation,  of  which  the  present 
edition  is  a  faitht,  i  and  correct  copy. 


CONTENTS. 


Publisher's  Preface      .  .  .  .  .  .  Hi 

Translator's  Preface          .  .  .  v 

Preface  of  London  Edition    .....  vii 

Preface  of  the  American  Edition  .  .  .  .       ix 

Advertisement  of  the  American  Edition  xi 

The  Life  of  Volney  .  .  .  .  .  .      xv 

A  List  of  Volney's  Works     .....         xxii 

Invocation  .......        I 

Chap.  I.    The  Journey          .  .  .  .  .    •          3 

II.     The  Reverie  .....        5 

III.  The  Apparition     .....  9 

IV.  The  Exposition          .  .  .  .  -13 
V.     Condition  of  Man  in  the  Universe         .            .  20 

VI.    The  Primitive  State  of  Man.  .  22 

VII.    Principles  of  Society        .  .23 

VIII.     Sources  of  the  Evils  of  Societits     .  .  .25 

IX.    Origin  of  Governments  and  Laws         .  .  26 

X.     General  Causes  of  the  Prosperity  of  Ancient  States     28 

XI.    General  Causes  of  the  Revolutions  and  Ruin  of 

Ancient  States.  ....  32 

XII.     Lessons  of  Times  Past  repeated  on  the  Present  .      41 

XIII.    Will  the  Human  Race  Improve  .  .  53 

•  XIV.    The  Great  Obstacle  to  Improvement          .  .      59 

XV.    The  New  Age 63 

XVI.    A  Free  and  Legislative  People         .  .  -67 

XVII.     Universal  Basis  of  all  Right  and  all  Law  .  68 

XVIII.     Consternation  and  Conspiracy  of  Tyrants  .      71 

XIX.     General  Assembly  of  the  Nations  .  .  73 

XX.    The  Search  of  Truth  .  .  .  .77 

XXI.     Problem  of  Religious  Contradictions  .  86 

XXII.     Origin  and  Filiation  of  Religious  Ideas     .  .no 

$  I.     Origin  of  the  Idea  of  God  :   Worship  of  the  Ele- 
ments and  of  the  Physical  Powers  of  Nature          114 
§11.     Second  System.    Worship  of  the  Stars,  or  Sabeism     117 
\  in.    Third  System.      Worship  of  Symbols,  or  Idolatry     121 
§  iv.     Fourth  System.      Worship  of  two  Principles,  or 

Dualism     .  .  .  .  ...         131 


XIV  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

§  v.    Moral  and  Mystical  Worship,  or  System  of  a  Fu- 
ture State  .  ...          136 
g  VI.    Sixth  System.    The  Animated  World,  or  Worship 

of  the  Universe  under  diverse  Emblems       .         140 
\  vn.    Seventh  System.     Worship  of  the  Soul  of  the 
World,  that  is  to  say,  the  Element  of  Fire,  Vital 
Principle  of  the  Universe  .  .  .      143 

\  vin.    Eighth  System.     The  World  Machine  :  Worship 

of  the  Demi-Ourgos,  or  Grand  Artificer       .          145 
\  ix.    Religion  of  Moses,  or  Worship  of  the  Soul  of  the 

World  (You-piter)        .  .  .  .          149 

\  x.    Religion  of  Zoroaster  .  .  .     152 

\  xi.    Budsoism,  or  Religion  of  the  Samaneans        .          152 
§  xn.    Brahmism,  or  Indian  System  .  .  .     152 

§  xiil.  Christianity,  or  the  Allegorical  Worship  of  the  Sun 
under  the  cabalistic  names  of  Chrish-en  or  Christ 
and  Yesus  or  Jesus  .  .  .  .  153 

XXIII.  All  Religions  have  the  same  Object      .         * .          162 

XXIV.  Solution  of  the  Problem  of  Contradictions  .    172 

THE  LAW  OF  NATURE. 

Chap.  I.  Of  the  Law  of  Nature     .  .  .  177 

II.  Characters  of  the  Law  of  Nature   .  .  .      179 

III.  Principles  of  the  Law  of  Nature  relating  to  Man       183 

IV.  Basis  of  Morality  :  of  Good,  of  Evil,  of  Sin,  of 

Crime,  of  Vice,  and  of  Virtue  .  .  186 

V.  Of  Individual  Virtues  .  .  .    ,       .      188 
VI.    On  Temperance    .....  190 

VII.  On  Continence             .....     192 

VIII.  On  Courage  and  Activity           .           .           .           194 

IX.  On  Cleanliness             .           .           .           .'          .197 

X.  On  Domestic  Virtues       .           .           .           .           198 

XI.  The  Social  Virtues ;  Justice             .          „  '        .202 

XII.  Development  of  the  Social  Virtues     •  ,'          ,          204 

Volney's  Answer  to  Dr.  Priestly  ,  .  .         , 

Appendix  :  The  Zodiacal  Signs  and  Constellations     . 


LIFE  OF  VOLNEY. 

BY  COUNT  DARU. 


CONSTANTINE  FRANCIS  CHASSEBEUF  DE  VOLNEY  WES 
born  in  1757  at  Craon,  in  that  intermediate  condition 
oflife,  which  is  of  all  the  happiest,  since  it  is  deprived 
only  of  fortune's  too  dangerous  favors,  and  can  aspire  to  the 
social  and  intellectual  advantages  reserved  for  a  laudable 
ambition. 

From  his  earliest  youth,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  search 
after  truth,  without  being  disheartened  by  the  serious  studies 
which  alone  can  initiate  us  into  her  secrets.  After  having 
become  acquainted  with  the  ancient  languages,  the  natural 
sciences  and  history,  and  being  admitted  into  the  society  of 
the  most  eminent  literary  characters,  he  submitted,  at  the  age 
of  twenty,  to  an  illustrious  academy,  the  solution  of  one  of  the 
most  difficult  problems  that  the  history  of  antiquity  has  leit 
open  for  discussion.  This  attempt  received  no  encourage- 
ment from  the  learned  men  who  were  appointed  his  judges  ; 
and  the  author's  only  appeal  from  their  sentence  was  to  his 
courage  and  his  efforts. 

Soon  after,  a  small  inheritance  having  fallen  to  his  lot,  the 
difficulty  was  how  to  spend  it  (these  are  his  own  words.)  He 
resolved  to  employ  it  in  acquiring,  by  a  long  voyage,  a  new 
fund  of  information,  and  determined  to  visit  Egypt  and  Syria. 
But  these  countries  could  not  be  explored  to  advantage  with- 
out a  knowledge  of  the  language.  Our  young  traveller  was 
not  to  be  discouraged  by  this  difficulty.  Instead  of  learning 
Arabic  in  Europe,  he  withdrew  to  a  convent  of  Copts,  until  he 
had  made  himself  master  of  an  idiom  that  is  spoken  by  so 
many  nations  of  the  East.  This  resolution  showed  one  of  those 
undaunted  spirits  that  remain  unshaken  amid  the  trials  oflife. 

Although,  like  other  travellers,  he  might  have  amused  us 
with  an  account  of  his  hardships  and  the  perils  surmounted 
by  his  courage,  he  overcame  the  temptation  of  interrupting 
his  narrative  by  personal  adventures.  He  disdained  the 


XVI  LIFE   OF  VOLNEY. 

beaten  track.  He  does  not  tell  us  the  road  he  took,  the  acci- 
dents he  met  with,  or  the  impressions  he  received.  He  care- 
fully avoids  appearing  upon  the  stage  ;  he  is  an  inhabitant  of 
the  country,  who  has  long  and  well  observed  it,  and  who  de- 
scribes ills  physical,  political,  and  moral  state.  The  allusion 
would  be  entire  if  an  old  Arab  could  be  supposed  to  possess 
all  the  erudition,  all  the  European  philosophy,  which  are  found 
united  and  in  their  maturity  in  a  traveller  of  twenty-five. 

But  though  a  master  in  all  those  artifices  by  which  a  narra- 
tion is  rendered  interesting,  the  young  man  is  not  to  be 
discerned  in  the  pomp  of  labored  descriptions.  Although 
possessed  of  a  lively  and  brilliant  imagination,  he  is  never 
found  unwarily  explaining  by  conjectural  systems  the  physi- 
cal or  moral  phenomena  he  describes.  In  his  observations 
he  unites  prudence  with  science.  With  these  two  guides  he 
judges  with  circumspection,  and  sometimes  confesses  himself 
unable  to  account  for  the  effects  he  has  made  known  to  us. 

Thus  his  account  has  all  the  qualities  that  persuade  —  accu- 
racy and  candor.  And  when,  ten  years  later,  a  vast  military 
enterprise  transported  forty  thousand  travellers  to  the  classic 
ground,  which  he  had  trod  unattended,  unarmed  and  unpro- 
tected, they  all  recognized  a  sure  guide  and  an  enlightened 
observer  in  the  writer  who  had,  as  it  seemed,  only  preceded 
them  to  remove  or  point  out  a  part  of  the  difficulties  of  the  way. 

The  unanimous  testimony  of  all  parties  proved  the  accuracy 
of  his  account  and  the  justness  of  his  observations;  and  his 
Travels  in  Egypt  and  Syria  were,  by  universal  suffrage,  recom- 
mended to  the  gratitude  and  the  confidence  of  the  public. 

Before  the  work  had  undergone  this  trial  it  had  obtained 
in  the  learned  world  such  a  rapid  and  general  success,  that  it 
found  its  way  into  Russia.  The  empress,  then  (in  1787)  upon 
the  throne,  sent  the  author  a  medal,  which  he  received  with 
respect,  as  a  mark  of  esteem  for  his  talents,  and  with  gratitude, 
as  a  proof  of  the  approbation  given  to  his  principles.  But 
when  the  empress  declared  against  France,  Volney  sent  back 
the  honorable  present,  saying  :  "  If  I  obtained  it  from  her  es- 
teem, I  can  only  preserve  her  esteem  by  returning  it." 

The  revolution  of  1789,  which  had  drawn  upon  France  the 
menaces  of  Catharine,  had  opened  to  Volney  a  political  career. 
As  deputy  in  the  assembly  of  the  states-general,  the  first 


LIFE  OF  VOLNEY.  xvii 

words  he  uttered  there  were  in  favor  of  the  publicity  of  their 
deliberations.  He  also  supported  the  organization  of  the  na- 
tional guards,  and  that  of  the  communes  and  departments. 

At  the  period  when  the  question  of  the  sale  of  the  domain 
lands  was  agitated  (in  1790,)  he  published  an  essay  in  which 
he  lays  down  the  following  principles :  "  The  force  of  a  State 
is  in  proportion  to  its  population ;  population  is  in  proportion 
to  plenty ;  plenty  is  in  proportion  to  tillage  ;  and  tillage,  to  per- 
sonal and  immediate  interest,  that  is  to  the  spirit  of  property. 
Whence  it  follows,  that  the  nearer  the  cultivator  approaches 
the  passive  condition  of  a  mercenary,  the  less  industry  and 
activity  are  to  be  expected  from  him  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  nearer  he  is  to  the  condition  of  a  free  and  entire  proprie- 
tor, the  more  extension  he  gives  to  his  own  forces,  to  the 
produce  of  his  lands,  and  the  general  prosperity  of  the  State." 

The  author  draws  this  conclusion,  that  a  State  is  so  much 
the  more  powerful  as  it  includes  a  greater  number  of  proprie- 
tors,—  that  is,  a  greater  division  of  property. 

Conducted  into  Corsica  by  that  spirit  of  observation  which 
belongs  only  to  men  whose  information  is  varied  and  exten- 
sive, he  perceived  at  the  first  glance  all  that  could  be  done 
for  the  improvement  of  agriculture  in  that  country :  but  he 
knew  that,  for  a  people  firmly  attached  to  ancient  customs, 
there  can  exist  no  other  demonstration  or  means  of  persuasion 
than  example.  He  purchased  a  considerable  estate,  and 
made  experiments  on  those  kinds  of  tillage  that  he  hoped  to 
naturalize  in  that  climate.  The  sugar-cane,  cotton,  indigo 
and  coffee  soon  demonstrated  the  success  of  his  efforts.  This 
success  drew  upon  him  the  notice  of  the  government.  He 
was  appointed  director  of  agriculture  and  commerce  in  that 
island,  where,  through  ignorance,  all  new  methods  are  intro- 
duced with  such  difficulty. 

It  is  impossible  to  calculate  all  the  good  that  might  have 
resulted  from  this  peaceable  magistracy ;  and  we  know  that 
neither  instruction,  zeal,  nor  a  persevering  courage  was 
wanting  to  him  who  had  undertaken  it.  Of  this  he  had  given 
convincing  proofs.  It  was  in  obedience  to  another  sentiment, 
no  less  respectable,  that  he  voluntarily  interrupted  the  course 
of  his  labors.  When  his  fellow  citizens  of  Angers  appointed 
him  their  deputy  in  the  constituent  assembly,  he  resigned  the 


XV111  LIFE   OF  VOLNEY. 

employment  he  held  under  government,  upon  the  principle 
that  no  man  can  represent  the  nation  and  be  dependent  for  a 
salary  upon  those  by  whom  it  is  administered. 

Through  respect  for  the  independence  of  his  legislative 
functions,  he  had  ceased  to  occupy  the  place  he  possessed  in 
Corsica  before  his  election,  but  he  had  not  ceased  to  be  a  bene- 
factor of  that  country.  He  returned  thither  after  the  session 
of  the  constituent  assembly.  Invited  into  that  island  by  the 
principal  inhabitants,  who  were  anxious  to  put  into  practice 
his  lessons,  he  spent  there  a  part  of  the  years  1/92  and  1793. 

On  his  return  he  published  a  work  entitled:  An  Account 
of  the  Present  State  of  Corsica.  This  was  an  act  of  courage ; 
for  it  was  not  a  physical  description,  but  a  political  review  of 
the  condition  of  a  population  divided  into  several  factions  and 
distracted  by  violent  animosities.  Volney  unreservedly  re- 
vealed the  abuses,  solicited  the  interest  of  France  in  favor  of 
the  Corsicans,  without  nattering  them,  and  boldly  denounced 
their  defects  and  vices  ;  so  that  the  philosopher  obtained  the 
only  recompense  he  could  expect  from  his  sincerity — he  was 
accused  by  the  Corsicans  of  heresy. 

To  prove  that  he  had  not  merited  this  reproach,  he  pub- 
lished soon  after  a  short  treatise  entitled :  The  Law  of  Nature, 
or  Physical  Principles  of  Morality. 

He  was  soon  exposed  to  a  much  more  dangerous  charge, 
and  this,  it  must  be  confessed,  he  did  merit.  This  philoso- 
pher, this  worthy  citizen,  who  in  our  first  National  assembly 
had  seconded  with  his  wishes  and  his  talents  the  establish- 
ment of  an  order  of  things  which  he  considered  favorable  to 
the  happiness  of  his  country,  was  accused  of  not  being  sin- 
cerely attached  to  that  liberty  for  which  he  had  contended; 
that  is  to  say,  of  being  averse  to  anarchy.  An  imprisonment 
of  ten  months,  which  only  ended  after  the  9th  of  Thermidor, 
was  a  new  trial  reserved  for  his  courage. 

The  moment  at  which  he  recovered  his  liberty,  was  when  the 
horror  inspired  by  criminal  excesses  had  recalled  men  to 
those  noble  sentiments  which  fortunately  are  one  of  the  first 
necessaries  of  civilized  life.  They  sought  for  consolations  in 
study  and  literature  after  so  many  misfortunes,  and  organ- 
ized a  plan  of  public  instruction. 

It  was  in  the  first  place  necessary  to  insure  the  aptitude  of 


LIFE  OF  VOLNEY.  XIX 

those  to  whom  education  should  be  confided ;  but  as  the  sys- 
tems were  various,  the  best  methods  and  a  unity  of  doctrine 
were  to  be  determined.  It  was  not  enough  to  interrogate  the 
masters,  they  were  to  be  formed,  new  ones  were  to  be  created, 
and  for  that  purpose  a  school  was  opened  in  1794,  wherein 
the  celebrity  of  the  professors  promised  new  instruction  even 
to  the  best  informed.  This  was  not,  as  was  objected,  beginning 
the  edifice  at  the  roof,  but  creating  architects,  who  were  to  su- 
perintend all  the  arts  requisite  for  constructing  the  building. 

The  more  difficult  their  functions  were,  the  greater  care 
was  to  be  taken  in  the  choice  of  the  professors ;  but  France, 
though  then  accused  of  being  plunged  in  barbarism,  possessed 
men  of  transcendent  talents,  already  enjoying  the  esteem  of 
all  Europe,  and  we  may  be  bold  to  say,  that  by  their  labors, 
our  literary  glory  had  likewise  extended  its  conquests.  Their 
names  were  proclaimed  by  the  public  voice,  and  Volney's 
was  associated  with  those  of  the  men  most  illustrious  in 
science  and  in  literature.* 

This  institution,  however,  did  not  answer  the  expectations 
that  had  been  formed  of  it,  because  the  two  thousand  students 
that  assembled  from  all  parts  of  France  were  not  equally  pre- 
pared to  receive  these  transcendent  lessons,  and  because  it 
had  not  been  sufficiently  ascertained  how  far  the  theory  of 
education  should  be  kept  distinct  from  education  itself. 

Volney's  Lectures  on  History,  which  were  attended  by  an 
immense  concourse  of  auditors,  became  one  of  his  chief  claims 
to  literary  glory.  When  forced  to  interrupt  them,  by  the  sup- 
pression of  the  Normal  school,  he  might  have  reasonably  ex- 
pected to  enjoy  in  his  retirement  that  consideration  which  his 
recent  functions  had  added  to  his  name.  But,  disgusted  with 
the  scenes  he  had  witnessed  in  his  native  land,  he  felt  that 
passion  revive  within  him  which,  in.  his  youth,  had  led  him  to 
visit  Africa  and  Asia.  America,  civilized  within  a  century, 
and  free  only  within  a  few  years,  fixed  his  attention.  There 
every  thing  was  new,— the  inhabitants,  the  constitution,  the 
earth  itself.  These  were  objects  worthy  of  his  observation. 
When  embarking  for  this  voyage,  however,  he  felt  emotions 
very  different  from  those  which  formerly  accompanied  him 

«Lagrange,  Laplace,  Berthollet,  Garat,  Bernardin  de  Saint-Pierre,  Daubenton, 
Hauy,  Volney,  Sicard,  Monge,  Thouin,  La  Harpe,  Buache  Mentelle. 


XX  LIFE  OF  VOLNEY. 

into  Turkey.  Then  in  the  prime  of  life,  he  joyfully  bid  adieu 
to  a  land  where  peace  and  plenty  reigned,  to  travel  amongst 
barbarians ;  now,  mature  in  years,  but  dismayed  at  the  spec- 
tacle and  experience  of  injustice  and  persecution,  it  was  with 
diffidence,  as  we  learn  from  himself,  that  he  went  to  implore 
from  a  free  people  an  asylum  for  a  sincere  friend  of  that  lib- 
erty that  had  been  so  profaned. 

Our»traveller  had  gone  to  seek  for  repose  beyond  the  seas. 
He  there  found  himself  exposed  to  aggression  from  a  cele- 
brated philosopher,  Dr.  Priestley.  Although  the  subject  of 
this  discussion  was  confined  to  the  investigation  of  some 
speculative  opinions,  published  by  the  French  writer  in  his 
work  entitled  The  Ruins,  the  naturalist  in  this  attack  employed 
a  degree  of  violence  which  added  nothing  to  the  force  of  his 
arguments,  and  an  acrimony  of  expression  not  to  be  expected 
from  a  philosopher.  M.  Volney,  though  accused  of  Hotten- 
totism  and  ignorance,  preserved  in  his  defence,  all  the  advan- 
tages that  the  scurrility  of  his  adversary  gave  over  him.  He 
replied  in  English,  and  Priestley's  countrymen  could  only 
recognize  the  Frenchman  in  the  refinement  and  politeness  of 
his  answer. 

Whilst  M.  Volney  was  travelling  in  America,  there  had 
been  formed  in  France  a  literary  body  which,  under  the  name 
of  Institute,  had  attained  in  a  very  few  years  a  distinguished 
rank  amongst  the  learned  societies  of  Europe.  The  name  of 
the  illustrious  traveller  was  inscribed  in  it  at  its  formation, 
and  he  acquired  new  rights  to  the  academical  honors  con- 
ferred on  him  during  his  absence,  by  the  publication  of  his 
observations  On  the  Climate  and  Soil  of  the  United  States. 

These  rights  were  further  augmented  by  the  historical 
and  physiological  labors  of  the  Academician.  An  examina- 
tion and  justification  of  The  Chronology  of  Herodotus,  with 
numerous  and  profound  researches  on  The  History  of  the 
most  Ancient  Nations,  occupied  for  a  long  time  him  who  had 
observed  their  monuments  and  traces  in  the  countries  they 
inhabited.  The  trial  he  had  made  of  the  utility  of  the  Oriental 
languages  inspired  him  with  an  ardent  desire  to  propagate 
the  knowledge  of  them ;  and  to  be  propagated,  he  felt  how 
necessary  it  was  to  render  it  less  difficult.  In  this  view  he 
conceived  the  project  of  applying  to  the  study  of  the  idioms  of 


LIFE   OF   VOLNEY.  XXi 

Asia,  a  part  of  the  grammatical  notions  we  possess  concern- 
ing the  languages  of  Europe.  It  only  appertains  to  those 
conversant  with  their  relations  of  dissimilitude  or  conformity 
to  appreciate  the  possibility  of  realizing  this  system.  The 
author  has,  however,  already  received  the  most  flattering  en- 
couragement and  the  most  unequivocal  appreciation,  by  the 
inscription  of  his  name  amongst  the  members  of  the  learned 
and  illustrious  society  founded  by  English  commerce  in  the 
Indian  peninsula. 

M.  Volney  developed  his  system  in  three  works,*  which 
prove  that  this  idea  of  uniting  nations  separated  by  immense 
distances  and  such  various  idioms,  had  never  ceased  to  oc- 
cupy him  for  twenty-five  years.  Lest  those  essays,  of  the 
utility  of  which  he  was  persuaded,  should  be  interrupted  by 
his  death,  with  the  clay-cold  hand  that  corrected  his  last  work, 
he  drew  up  a  will  which  institutes  a  premium  for  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  labors.  Thus  he  prolonged,  beyond  the  term  of  a 
life  entirely  devoted  to  letters,  the  glorious  services  he  had 
rendered  to  them. 

This  is  not  the  place,  nor  does  it  belong  to  me  to  appreciate 
the  merit  of  the  writings  which  render  Volney 's  name  illustri- 
ous. His  name  had  been  inscribed  in  the  list  of  the  Senate, 
and  afterwards  of  the  House  of  Peers.  The  philosopher  who 
had  travelled  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  world,  and  observed 
their  social  state,  had  other  titles  to  his  admission  into  this 
body,  than  his  literary  glory.  His  public  life,  his  conduct  in 
the  constituent  assembly,  his  independent  principles,  the 
nobleness  of  his  sentiments,  the  wisdom  and  fixity  of  his 
opinions,  had  gained  him  the  esteem  of  those  who  can  be  de- 
pended upon,  and  with  whom  it  is  so  agreeable  to  discuss 
political  interests. 

Although  no  man  had  a  better  right  to  have  an  opinion,  no 
one  was  more  tolerant  for  the  opinions  of  others.  In  State 
assemblies  as  well  as  in  Academical  meetings,  the  man  whose 
counsels  were  so  wise,  voted  according  to  his  conscience, 
which  nothing  could  bias ;  but  the  philosopher  forgot  his  su- 
periority to  hear,  to  oppose  with  moderation,  and  sometimes 

*  On  the  Simplification  of  Oriental  Languages,  1795. 
The  European  Alphabet  Applied  to  the  Languages  of  Asia,  i8ig. 
Hebrew  Simplified,  1820. 


A   LIST    OF   VOLNEY  S    WORKS. 

to  doubt.  The  extent  and' variety  of  his  information,  the  force 
of  his  reason,  the  austerity  of  his  manners,  and  the  noble  sim- 
plicity of  his  character,  had  procured  him  illustrious  friends 
in  both  hemispheres ;  and  now  that  this  erudition  is  extinct  in 
the  tomb,*  we  may  be  allowed  at  least  to  predict  that  he  was 
one  of  the  very  few  whose  memory  shall  never  die. 


A  list  of  the   Works  Published  by  Count  Volney. 

TRAVELS  IN  EGYPT  AND  SYRIA  during  the  years  1783,  1784, 

and  1785:  2  vols.  8vo.  — 1787. 
CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  TWELVE  CENTURIES  that  preceded 

the  entrance  of  Xerxes  into  Greece. 
CONSIDERATIONS  ON  THE  TURKISH  WAR,  in  1788. 
THE  RUINS,  or  Meditations  on  the  Revolutions  of  Empires  — 

1791. 

ACCOUNT  OF  THE  PRESENT  STATE  OF  CORSICA — 1793. 
THE  LAW  OF  NATURE,  or  Physical  Principles  of  Morality  — 

1793- 

ON  THE  SIMPLIFICATION  OF  ORIENTAL  LANGUAGES  — 1795. 
A  LETTER  TO  DR.  PRIESTLEY — 1797. 
LECTURES  ON  HISTORY,  delivered  at  the  Normal  School  in 

the  year  3  — 1800. 
ON  THE  CLIMATE  AND   SOIL  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF 

AMERICA,  to  which  is  added  an  account  of  Florida,  of  the 

French  colony  of  Scioto,  of  some  Canadian  Colonies,  and 

of  the  Savages.  — 1803. 
REPORT  MADE  TO  THE  CELTIC  ACADEMY  ON  THE  RUSSIAN 

WORK  OF  PROFESSOR  PALLAS,  entitled  "A  Comparative 

Vocabulary  of  all  the  Languages  in  the  World. " 
THE   CHRONOLOGY  OF   HERODOTUS  conformable  with  his 

Text— 1808  and  1809. 

NEW  RESEARCHES  ON  ANCIENT  HISTORY,  3  vols.  8vo. — 1814 
THE  EUROPEAN  ALPHABET  Applied  to  the  Languages  of 

Asia  — 1819. 

A  HISTORY  OF  SAMUEL  — 1819. 
HEBREW  SIMPLIFIED  — 1820. 

*  He  died  in  Paris  on  the  zoth  of  April,  1820. 


INVOCATION. 


HAIL  solitary  ruins,  holy  sepulchres  and  silent  walls !  you 
I  invoke;  to  you  I  address  my  prayer.  While  your 
aspect  averts,  with  secret  terror,  the  vulgar  regard,  it  excites 
in  my  heart  the  charm  of  delicious  sentiments — sublime 
contemplations.  What  useful  lessons,  what  affecting  and 
profound  reflections  you  suggesttto  him  who  knows  how  to 
consult  you  !  When  the  whole  earth,  in  chains  and  silence, 
bowed  the  neck  before  its  tyrants,  you  had  already  proclaimed 
the  truths  which  they  abhor  ;  and  confounding  the  dust  of  the 
king  with  that  of  the  meanest  slave,  had  announced  to  man 
the  sacred  dogma  of  Equality.  Within  your  pale,  in  solitary 
adoration  of  Liberty,  I  saw  her  Genius  arise  from  the 
mansions  of  the  dead  ;  not  such  as  she  is  painted  by  the  im- 
passioned multitude,  armed  with  fire  and  sword,  but  under 
the  august  aspect  of  Justice,  poising  in  her  hand  the  sacred 
balance  wherein  are  weighed  the  actions  of  men  at  the  gates 
of  eternity  ! 

O  Tombs !  what  virtues  are  yours !  You  appal  the  tyrant's 
heart,  and  poison  with  secret  alarm  his  impious  joys.  He 
flies,  with  coward  step,  your  incorruptible  aspect,  and  erects 
afar  his  throne  of  insolence.*  You  punish  the  powerful  op- 
pressor ;  you  wrest  from  avarice  and  extortion  their  ill-gotten 
gold,  and  you  avenge  the  feeble  whom  they  have  despoiled ; 

*The  cathedral  of  St.  Denis  is  the  tomb  of  the  kings  of  France;  and  it  was 
because  the  towers  of  that  edifice  are  seen  from  the  Castle  of  St.  Germain,  that 
Louis  XIV.  quitted  that  admirable  residence,  and  established  a  new  one  in  the 
savage  forests  of  Versailles. 

(This  note,  like  many  others,  has  been  omitted  from  the  American  editions. 
It  seems  pertinent  to  the  subject,  and  is  explanatory  of  the  text.— Pub.) 


2  INVOCATION. 

you  compensate  the  miseries  of  the  poor  by  the  anxieties  of 
the  rich  ;  you  console  the  wretched,  by  opening  to  him  a  last 
asylum  from  distress;  and  you  give  to  the  soul  that  just 
equipoise  of  strength  and  sensibility  which  constitutes  wis- 
dom —  the  true  science  of  life.  Aware  that  all  must  return  to 
you,  the  wise  man  loadeth  not  himself  with  the  burdens  of 
grandeur  and  of  useless  wealth:  he  restrains  his  desires 
within  the  limits  of  justice  ;  yet,  knowing  that  he  must 
run  his  destined  course  of  life,  he  fills  with  employment  all 
its  hours,  and  enjoys  the  comforts  that  fortune  has  allotted 
him.  You  thus  impose  on  the  impetuous  sallies  of  cupidity  a 
salutary  rein!  you  calm  the  feverish  ardor  of  enjoyments 
which  disturb  the  senses ;  you  free  the  soul  from  the  fatiguing 
conflict  of  the  passions ;  elevate  it  above  the  paltry  interests 
which  torment  the  crowd ;  and  surveying,  from  your  com- 
manding position,  the  expanse  of  ages  and  nations,  the  mind 
is  only  accessible  to  the  great  affections — to  the  solid  ideas 
of  virtue  and  of  glory. 

Ah !  when  the  dream  of  life  is  over,  what  will  then  avail 
all  its  agitations,  if  not  one  trace  of  utility  remains  behind? 

O  Ruins !  to  your  school  I  will  return  !  I  will  seek  again 
the  calm  of  your  solitudes ;  and  there,  far  from  the  afflicting 
spectacle  of  the  passions,  I  will  cherish  in  remembrance  the 
love  of  man,  I  will  employ  myself  on  the  means  of  effecting 
good  for  him,  and  build  my  own  happiness  on  the  promotion 
of  his. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE  JOURNEY. 

IN  the  eleventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Abd-ul-Hamid,  son  of 
Ahmid,  emperor  of  the  Turks  ;  when  the  Nogais -Tartars 
were  driven  from  the  Crimea,  and  a  Mussulman  prince  of 
the  blood  of  Gengis-Kahn  became  the  vassal  and  guard  of  a 
Christian  woman  and  queen,*  I  was  travelling  in  the  Ottoman 
dominions,  and  through  those  provinces  which  were  anciently 
the  kingdoms  of  Egypt  and  Syria. 

My  whole  attention  bent  on  whatever  concerns  the  happi- 
ness of  man  in  a  social  state,  I  visited  cities,  and  studied  the 
manners  of  their  inhabitants  ;  entered  palaces,  and  observed 
the  conduct  of  those  who  govern  ;  wandered  over  fields,  and 
examined  the  condition  of  those  who  cultivated  them :  and 
nowhere  perceiving  aught  but  robbery  and  devastation, 
tyranny  and  wretchedness,  my  heart  was  oppressed  with  sor- 
row and  indignation. 

I  saw  daily  on  my  road  fields  abandoned,  villages  deserted, 
and  cities  in  ruin.  Often  I  met  with  ancient  monuments, 
wrecks  of  temples,  palaces  and  fortresses,  columns,  aqueducts 
and  tombs.  This  spectacle  led  me  to  meditate  on  times  past, 
and  filled  my  mind  with  contemplations  the  most  serious  and 
profound. 

Arrived  at  the  city  of  Hems,  on  the  border  of  the  Orontes, 
and  being  in  the  neighborhood  of  Palmyra  of  the  desert,  I 

*  In  the  eleventh  year  of  Abd-ul-Hamid,  that  is  1784  of  the  Christian  era,  and 
1198  of  the  Hegira.  The  emigration  of  the  Tartars  took  place  in  March,  immedi- 
ately on  the  manifesto  of  the  empress,  declaring  the  Crimea  to  be  incorporated 
with  Russia.  The  Mussulman  prince  of  the  blood  of  Gengis-Khan  was  Chahin- 
Guerai.  Gengis-Khan  was  borne  and  served  by  the  kings  whom  he  conquered  : 
Chahin,  on  the  contrary,  after  selling  his  country  for  a  pension  of  eighty  thousand 
roubles,  accepted  the  commission  of  captain  of  guards  to  Catherine  II.  He  after- 
wards returned  home,  and  according  to  custom  was  strangled  by  the  Turks. 


4  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

resolved  to  visit  its  celebrated  ruins.  After  three  days  jour- 
neying through  arid  deserts,  having  traversed  the  Valley  of 
Caves  and  Sepulchres,  on  issuing  into  the  plain,  I  was  sud- 
denly struck  with  a  scene  of  the  most  stupendous  ruins — a 
countless  multitude  of  superb  columns,  stretching  in  avenues 
beyond  the  reach  of  sight.  Among  them  were  magnificent 
edifices,  some  entire,  others  in  ruins  ;  the  earth  every  where 
strewed  with  fragments  of  cornices,  capitals,  shafts,  entabla- 
tures, pilasters,  all  of  white  marble,  and  of  the  most  exquisite 
workmanship.  After  a  walk  of  three-quarters  of  an  hour 
along  these  ruins,  I  entered  the  enclosure  of  a  vast  edifice, 
formerly  a  temple  dedicated  to  the  Sun ;  and  accepting  the 
hospitality  of  some  poor  Arabian  peasants,  who  had  built 
their  hovels  on  the  area  of  the  temple,  I  determined  to  devote 
some  days  to  contemplate  at  leisure  the  beauty  of  these  stu- 
pendous ruins. 

Daily  I  visited  the  monuments  which  covered  the  plain ; 
and  one  evening,  absorbed  in  reflection,  I  had  advanced  to 
the  Valley  of  Sepulchres.  I  ascended  the  heights  which  sur- 
round it  from  whence  the  eye  commands  the  whole  group  of 
ruins  and  the  immensity  of  the  desert.  The  sun  had  sunk 
below  the  horizon :  a  red  border  of  light  still  marked  his  track 
behind  the  distant  mountains  of  Syria  ;  the  full-orbed  moon 
was  rising  in  the  east,  on  a  blue  ground,  over  the  plains  of 
the  Euphrates ;  the  sky  was  clear,  the  air  calm  and  serene ; 
the  dying  lamp  of  day  still  softened  the  horrors  of  approach- 
ing darkness ;  the  refreshing  night  breezes  attempered  the 
sultry  emanations  from  the  heated  earth  ;  the  herdsmen  had 
given  their  camels  to  repose,  the  eye  perceived  no  motion  on 
the  dusky  and  uniform  plain ;  profound  silence  rested  on  the 
desert ;  the  howlings  only  of  the  jackal,*  and  the  solemn  notes 
of  the  bird  of  night,  were  heard  at  distant  intervals.  Dark- 
ness now  increased,  and  through  the  dusk  could  only  be 
discerned  the  pale  phantasms  of  columns  and  walls.  The 
solitude  of  the  place,  the  tranquillity  of  the  hour,  the  majesty 
of  the  scene,  impressed  on  my  mind  a  religious  pensiveness. 
The  aspect  of  a  great  city  deserted,  the  memory  of  times  past, 

*  An  animal  resembling  a  dog  and  a  fox.  It  preys  on  other  small  animals,  and 
upon  the  bodies  of  the  dead  on  the  field  of  battle.  It  is  the  Canis  aureus  of 
Linnaeus. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 


compared  with  its  present  state,  all  elevated  my  mind  to  high 
contemplations.  I  sat  on  the  shaft  of  a  column,  my  elbow 
reposing  on  my  knee,  and  head  reclining  on  my  hand,  my 
eyes  fixed,  sometimes  on  the  desert,  sometimes  on  the  ruins, 
and  fell  into  a  profound  reverie. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    REVERIE. 

HERE,  said  I,  once  flourished  an  opulent  city  ;  here  was 
the  seat  of  a  powerful  empire.    Yes !  these  places  now 
so  wild  and  desolate,  were  once  animated  by  a  living 
multitude ;  a  busy  crowd  thronged  in  these  streets,  now  so 
solitary.  Within  these  walls,  where  now  reigns  the  silence  of 
death,  the  noise  of  the  arts,  and  the  shouts  of  joy  and  festivity 
incessantly  resounded ;  these  piles  of  marble  were  regular 
palaces  ;  these  fallen  columns  adorned  the  majesty  of  temples  ; 
these  ruined  galleries  surrounded  public  places.     Here  as- 
sembled a  numerous  people  for  the  sacred  duties  of  their 
religion,   and  the   anxious  cares  of  their  subsistence ;  here  "l 
industry,  parent  of  enjoyments,  collected  the  riches  of  all  ) 
climes,   and    the    purple    of  Tyre   was  exchanged  for  the  / 
precious  thread  of  Serica  ;*  the  soft  tissues  of  Cassimere  for  ) 
the  sumptuous  tapestry  of  Lydia;  the  amber  of  the  Baltic  for  \ 
the  pearls  and  perfumes  of  Arabia ;  the  gold  of  Ophir  for  the  ) 
tin  of  Thule. 

*  The  precious  thread  of  Serica.— That  is,  the  silk  originally  derived  from  the 
mountainous  country  where  the  great  wall  terminates,  and  which  appears  to 
have  been  the  cradle  of  the  Chinese  empire.  The  tissues  of  Cassimere.— The 
shawls  which  Ezekiel  seems  to  have  described  under  the  appellation  of  Choud- 
choud.  The  gold  of  Ophir.—  This  country,  which  was  one  of  the  twelve  Arab 
cantons,  and  which  has  so  much  and  so  unsuccessfully  been  sought  for  by  the 
antiquarians,  has  left,  however,  some  trace  of  itself  in  Ofor,  in  the  province  of 
Oman,  upon  the  Persian  Gulf,  neighboring  on  one  side  to  the  Sabeans,  who  are 
celebrated  by  Strabo  for  their  abundance  of  gold,  and  on  the  other  to  Aula  or 
Hevila,  where  the  pearl  fishery  was  carried  on.  See  the  27th  chapter  of  Ezekiel, 
which  gives  a  very  curious  and  extensive  picture  of  the  commerce  of  Asia  at 
that  period. 


6  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

And  now  behold  what  remains  of  this  powerful  city  :  a  mis- 
erable skeleton !  What  of  its  vast  domination :  a  doubtful 
and  obscure  remembrance !  To  the  noisy  concourse  which 
thronged  under  these  porticoes,  succeeds  the  solitude  of  death. 
The  silence  of  the  grave  is  substituted  for  the  busy  hum  of 
public  places ;  the  affluence  of  a  commercial  city  is  changed 
into  wretched  poverty ;  the  palaces  of  kings  have  become  a 
den  of  wild  beasts  ;  flocks  repose  in  the  area  of  temples,  and 
savage  reptiles  inhabit  the  sanctuary  of  the  gods.  Ah  !  how 
has  so  much  glory  been  eclipsed  ?  how  have  so  many  labors 
been  annihilated?  Do  thus  perish  then  the  works  of  men  — 
thus  vanish  empires  and  nations  ? 

And  the  history  of  former  times  revived  in  my  mind ;  I 
remembered  those  ancient  ages  when  many  illustrious  nations 
inhabited  these  countries ;  I  figured  to  myself  the  Assyrian 
on  the  banks  of  the  Tygris,  the  Chaldean  on  the  banks  of  the 
Euphrates,  the  Persian  reigning  from  the  Indus  to  the  Med- 
iterranean. I  enumerated  the  kingdoms  of  Damascus  and 
Idumea,  of  Jerusalem  and  Samaria,  the  warlike  states  of  the 
Philistines,  and  the  commercial  republics  of  Phoenicia.  This 
Syria,  said  I,  now  so  depopulated,  then  contained  a  hundred 
flourishing  cities,  and  abounded  with  towns,  villages,  and 
hamlets.*  In  all  parts  were  seen  cultivated  fields,  frequented 
roads,  and  crowded  habitations.  Ah!  whither  have  flown 
those  ages  of  life  and  abundance?  —  whither  vanished  those 
brilliant  creations  of  human  industry?  Where  are  those 
ramparts  of  Nineveh,  those  walls  of  Babylon,  those  palaces  of 
Persepolis,  those  temples  of  Balbec  and  of  Jerusalem  ?  Where 
are  those  fleets  of  Tyre,  those  dock-yards  of  Arad,  those 
work-shops  of  Sidon,  and  that  multitude  of  sailors,  of  pilots, 
of  merchants,  and  of  soldiers?  Where  those  husbandmen, 
harvests,  flocks,  and  all  the  creation  of  living  beings  in  which 
the  face  of  the  earth  rejoiced?  Alas!  I  have  passed  over  this 
desolate  land  !  I  have  visited  the  palaces,  once  the  scene  of 
so  much  splendor,  and  I  beheld  nothing  but  solitude  and  des- 
olation. I  sought  the  ancient  inhabitants  and  their  works, 
and  found  nothing  but  a  trace,  like  the  foot-prints  of  a  trav- 
eller over  the  sand.  The  temples  are  fallen,  the  palaces 

*  According  to  Josephus  and  Strabo,  there  were  in  Syria  twelve  millions  of 
souls,  and  the  traces  that  remain  of  culture  and  habitation  confirm  the  calculation 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  7 

overthrown,  the  ports  filled  up,  the  cities  destroyed ;  and  the 
earth,  stripped  of  inhabitants,  has  become  a  place  of  sepul- 
chres. Great  God !  whence  proceed  such  fatal  revolutions  ? 
What  causes  have  so  changed  the  fortunes  of  these  countries  ? 
Wherefore  are  so  many  cities  destroyed  ?  Why  has  not  this 
ancient  population  been  reproduced  and  perpetuated  ? 

Thus  absorbed  in  meditation,  a  crowd  of  new  reflections 
continually  poured  in  upon  my  mind.  Every  thing,  con- 
tinued I,  bewilders  my  judgment,  and  fills  my  heart  with 
trouble  and  uncertainty.  When  these  countries  enjoyed  what 
constitutes  the  glory  and  happiness  of  man,  they  were  inhab- 
ited by  infidel  nations  :  It  was  the  Phoenician,  offering  human 
sacrifices  to  Moloch,  who  gathered  into  his  stores  the  riches 
of  all  climates ;  it  was  the  Chaldean,  prostrate  before  his 
serpent-god,*  who  subjugated  opulent  cities,  laid  waste  the 
palaces  of  kings,  and  despoiled  the  temples  of  the  gods ;  it 
was  the  Persian,  worshipper  of  fire,  who  received  the  tribute 
of  a  hundred  nations  ;  they  were  the  inhabitants  of  this  very 
city,  adorers  of  the  sun  and  stars,  who  erected  so  many  mon- 
uments of  prosperity  and  luxury.  Numerous  herds,  fertile 
fields,  abundant  harvests  —  whatsoever  should  be  the  reward 
of  piety — was  in  the  hands  of  these  idolaters.  And  now, 
when  a  people  of  saints  and  believers  occupy  these  fields,  all 
is  become  sterility  and  solitude.  The  earth,  under  these  holy 
hands,  produces  only  thorns  and  briers.  Man  soweth  in  an- 
guish, and  reapeth  tears  and  cares.  War,  famine,  pestilence, 
assail  him  by  turns.  And  yet,  are  not  these  the  children  of 
the  prophets  ?  The  Mussulman,  Christian,  Jew,  are  they  not 
the  elect  children  of  God,  loaded  with  favors  and  miracles  ? 
Why,  then,  do  these  privileged  races  no  longer  enjoy  the 
same  advantages  ?  Why  are  these  fields,  sanctified  by  the 
blood  of  martyrs,  deprived  of  their  ancient  fertility?  Why 
have  those  blessings  been  banished  hence,  and  transferred 
for  so  many  ages  to  other  nations  and  different  climes  ? 

At  these  words,  revolving  in  my  mind  the  vicissitudes 
which  have  transmitted  the  sceptre  of  the  world  to  people  so 
different  in  religion  and  manners  from  those  in  ancient  Asia  to 
the  most  recent  of  Europe,  this  name  of  a  natal  land  revived 
in  me  the  sentiment  of  my  country ;  and  turning  my  eyes 
*  The  dragon  Bell. 


8  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

towards  France,  I  began  to  reflect  on  the  situation  in  which 
I  had  left  her.* 

I  recalled  her  fields  so  richly  cultivated,  her  roads  so 
admirably  constructed,  her  cities  inhabited  by  a  countless 
people,  her  fleets  spread  over  every  sea,  her  ports  filled  with 
the  produce  of  both  the  Indies:  and  then  comparing  the 
activity  of  her  commerce,  the  extent  of  her  navigation,  the 
magnificence  of  her  buildings,  the  arts  and  industry  of  her 
inhabitants,  with  what  Egypt  and  Syria  had  once  possessed, 
I  was  gratified  to  find  in  modern  Europe  the  departed  splen- 
dor of  Asia ;  but  the  charm  of  my  reverie  was  soon  dissolved 
by  a  last  term  of  comparison.  Reflecting  that  such  had  once 
been  the  activity  of  the  places  I  was  then  contemplating,  who 
knows,  said  I,  but  such  may  one  day  be  the  abandonment  of 
our  countries  ?  Who  knows  if  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  the 
Thames,  the  Zuyder-Zee,  where  now,  in  the  tumult  of  so 
many  enjoyments,  the  heart  and  the  eye  suffice  not  for  the 
multitude  of  sensations, — who  knows  if  some  traveller,  like 
myself,  shall  not  one  day  sit  on  their  silent  ruins,  and  weep  in 
solitude  over  the  ashes  of  their  inhabitants,  and  the  memory 
of  their  former  greatness. 

At  these  words,  my  eyes  filled  with  tears :  and  covering 
my  head  with  the  fold  of  my  mantle,  I  sank  into  gloomy  med- 
itations on  all  human  affairs.  Ah !  hapless  man,  said  I  in  my 
grief,  a  blind  fatality  sports  with  thy  destiny !  f  A  fatal  ije- 
cessity  rules  with  the  hand  of  chance  the  lot  of  mortals  !  But 
no:  it  is  the  justice  of  heaven  fulfilling  its  decrees! — a  God 
of  mystery  exercising  his  incomprehensible  judgments ! 
Doubtless  he  has  pronounced  a  secret  anathema  against  this 
land :  blasting  with  maledictions  the  present,  for  the  sins  of 
past  generations.  Oh !  who  shall  dare  to  fathom  the  depths 
of  the  Omnipotent? 

And  sunk  in  profound  melancholy,  I  remained  motionless. 

*  In  the  year  1782,  at  the  close  of  the  American  war. 

t  Fatality  is  the  universal  and  rooted  prejudice  of  the  East.  "  It  was  written,  " 
is  there  the  answer  to  every  thing.  Hence  result  an  unconcern  and  apathy,  the 
most  powerful  impediments  to  instruction  and  civilization. 


"Here  said  I,  here  once  flourished  an  opulent   city,  here    was   the   seat  of  a 
powerful  empire." — Pages- 


"Suddenly,  on  my  left,  by  the  glimmering  light  of  the  moon,  through  the 
columns  and  ruins  of  a  neighboring  temple,  I  thought,  I  saw  an  apparition,  pale, 
clothed  in  large  and  flowing  robes,  such  as  speclres  are  painted  rising  from  their 
tombs."  —  Page  9. 


THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES.  9 

CHAPTER    III. 

i 

THE  APPARITION. 

WHILE  thus  absorbed,  a  sound  struck  my  ear,  like  the 
agitation  of  a  flowing  robe,  or  that  of  slow  footsteps 
on  dry  and  rustling  grass.  Startled,  I  opened  my 
mantle,  and  looking  about  with  fear  and  trembling,  suddenly, 
on  my  left,  by  the  glimmering  light  of  the  moon,  through  the 
columns  and  ruins  of  a  neighboring  temple,  I  thought  I  saw 
an  apparition,  pale,  clothed  in  large  and  flowing  robes,  such 
as  spectres  are  painted  rising  from  their  tombs.  I  shud- 
dered :  and  while  agitated  and  hesitating  whether  to  fly  or  to 
advance  toward  the  object,  a  distinct  voice,  in  solemn  tones, 
pronounced  these  words  : 

How  long  will  man  importune  heaven  with  unjust  com- 
plaint ?  How  long,  with  vain  clamors,  will  he  accuse  Fate  as 
the  author  of  his  calamities  ?  Will  he  forever  shut  his  eyes 
to  the  light,  and  his  heart  to  the  admonitions  of  truth  and 
reason  ?  The  light  of  truth  meets  him  everywhere ;  yet  he 
sees  it  not !  The  voice  of  reason  strikes  his  ear ;  and  he 
hears  it  not !  Unjust  man !  if  for  a  moment  thou  canst  sus- 
pend the  delusion  which  fascinates  thy  senses,  if  thy  heart  can 
comprehend  the  language  of  reason,  interrogate  these  ruins ! 
Read  the  lessons  which  they  present  to  thee !  And  you, 
evidences  of  twenty  centuries,  holy  temples  !  venerable  tombs ! 
walls  once  so  glorious,  appear  in  the  cause  of  nature  herself! 
Approach  the  tribunal  of  sound  reason,  and  bear  testimony 
against  unjust  accusations !  Come  and  confound  the  decla- 
mations of  a  false  wisdom  or  hypocritical  piety,  and  avenge 
the  heavens  and  the  earth  of  man  who  calumniates  them 
both! 

What  is  that  blind  fatality,  which  without  order  and  without 
law,  sports  with  the  destiny  of  mortals  ?  What  is  that  unjust 
necessity,  which  confounds  the  effect  of  actions,  whether  of 
wisdom  or  of  folly  ?  In  what  consist  the  anathemas  of  heaven 
over  this  land  ?  Where  is  that  divine  malediction  which  per- 


IO  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

petuates  the  abandonment  of  these  fields  ?  Say,  monuments 
of  past  ages !  have  the  heavens  changed  their  laws  and  the 
earth  its  motion  ?  Are  the  fires  of  the  sun  extinct  in  the 
regions  of  space  ?  Do  the  seas  no  longer  emit  their  vapors  ? 
Are  the  rains  and  the  dews  suspended  in  the  air  ?  Do  the 
mountains  withhold  their  springs  ?  Are  the  streams  dried  up  ? 
And  do  the  plants  no  longer  bear  fruit  and  seed  ?  Answer, 
generation  of  falsehood  and  iniquity,  hath  God  deranged 
the  primitive  and  settled  order  of  things  which  he  himself 
assigned  to  nature  ?  Kath  heaven  denied  to  earth,  and  earth 
to  its  inhabitants,  the  blessings  they  formerly  dispensed? 
If  nothing  hath  changed  in  the  creation,  if  the  same  means 
now  exist  which  before  existed,  why  then  are  not  the  present 
what  former  generations  were  ?  Ah !  it  is  falsely  that  you 
accuse  fate  and  heaven !  it  is  unjustly  that  you  accuse  God 
as  the  cause  of  your  evils !  Say,  perverse  and  hypocritical 
race !  if  these  places  are  desolate,  if  these  powerful  cities  are 
reduced  to  solitude,  is  it  God  who  has  caused  their  ruin  ? 
Is  it  his  hand  which  has  overthrown  these  walls,  destroyed 
these  temples,  mutilated  these  columns,  or  is  it  the  hand  of 
man  ?  Is  it  the  arm  of  God  which  has  carried  the  sword  into 
your  cities,  and  fire  into  your  fields,  which  has  slaughtered 
the  people,  burned  the  harvests,  rooted  up  trees,  and  ravaged 
the  pastures,  or  is  it  the  hand  of  man  ?  And  when,  after  the 
destruction  of  crops,  famine  has  ensued,  is  it  the  vengeance 
of  God  which  has  produced  it,  or  the  mad  fury  of  mortals  ? 
When,  sinking  under  famine,  the  people  have  fed  on  impure 
aliments,  if  pestilence  ensues,  is  it  the  wrath  of  God  which 
sends  it,  or  the  folly  of  man  ?  When  war,  famine  and  pesti- 
lence, have  swept  away  the  inhabitants,  if  the  earth  remains 
a  desert,  is  it  God  who  has  depopulated  it  ?  Is  it  his  rapacity 
which  robs  the  husbandman,  ravages  the  fruitful  fields,  and 
wastes  the  earth,  or  is  it  the  rapacity  of  those  who  govern  ? 
Is  it  his  pride  which  excites  murderous  wars,  or  the  pride  of 
kings  and  their  ministers  ?  Is  it  the  venality  of  his  decisions 
which  overthrows  the  fortunes  of  families,  or  the  corruption 
of  the  organs  of  the  law  ?  Are  they  his  passions  which,  under 
a  thousand  forms,  torment  individuals  and  nations,  or  are 
they  the  passions  of  man  ?  And  if,  in  the  anguish  of  their 
miseries,  they  see  not  the  remedies,  is  it  the  ignorance  of  God 


THE   RUINS   OF  EMPIRES.  II 

which  is  to  blame,  or  their  ignorance  ?  Cease  then,  mortals, 
to  accuse  the  decrees  of  Fate,  or  the  judgments  of  the  Di- 
vinity !  If  God  is  good,  will  he  be  the  author  of  your  misery  ? 
If  he  is  just,  will  he  be  the  accomplice  of  your  crimes?  No, 
the  caprice  of  which  man  complains  is  not  the  caprice  of  fate ; 
the  darkness  that  misleads  his  reason  is  not  the  darkness  of 
God ;  the  source  of  his  calamities  is  not  in  the  distant  heavens, 
it  is  beside  him  on  the  earth  ;  it  is  not  concealed  in  the  bosom 
of  the  divinity ;  it  dwells  within  himself,  he  bears  it  in  his 
own  heart. 

Thou  murmurest  and  sayest :  What !  have  an  infidel  people 
then  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  heaven  and  earth  ?  Are  the 
holy  people  of  God  less  fortunate  than  the  races  of  impiety  ? 
Deluded  man  !  where  then  is  the  contradiction  which  offends 
thee  ?  Where  is  the  inconsistency  which  thou  imputest  to 
the  justice  of  heaven  ?  Take  into  thine  own  hands  the  balance 
of  rewards  and  punishments,  of  causes  and  effects.  Say : 
when  these  infidels  observed  the  laws  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  when  they  regulated  well-planned  labors  by  the  order 
of  the  seasons  and  the  course  of  the  stars,  should  the  Almighty 
have  disturbed  the  equilibrium  of  the  universe  to  defeat  their 
prudence  ?  When  their  hands  cultivated  these  fields  with 
toil  and  care,  should  he  have  diverted  the  course  of  the  rains, 
suspended  the  refreshing  dews,  and  planted  crops  of  thorns  ? 
When,  to  render  these  arid  fields  productive,  their  industry 
constructed  aqueducts,  dug  canals,  and  led  the  distant  waters 
across  the  desert,  should  he  have  dried  up  their  sources  in  the 
mountains  ?  Should  he  have  blasted  the  harvests  which  art 
had  nourished,  wasted  the  plains  which  peace  had  peopled, 
overthrown  cities  which  labor  had  created,  or  disturbed  the 
order  established  by  the  wisdom  of  man  ?  And  what  is  that 
infidelity  which  founded  empires  by  its  prudence,  defended 
them  by  its  valor,  and  strengthened  them  by  its  justice  — 
which  built  powerful  cities,  formed  capacious  ports,  drained 
pestilential  marshes,  covered  the  ocean  with  ships,  the  earth 
with  inhabitants ;  and,  like  the  creative  spirit,  spread  life  and 
motion  throughout  the  world  ?  If  such  be  infidelity,  what 
then  is  the  true  faith  ?  Doth  sanctity  consist  in  destruction  ? 
The  God  who  peoples  the  air  with  birds,  the  earth  with 
animals,  the  waters  with  fishes  —  the  God  who  animates  all 


12  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

nature — is  he  then  a  God  of  ruins  and  tombs  ?  Demands  he 
devastation  for  homage,  and  conflagration  for  sacrifice  ?  Re- 
quires he  groans  for  hymns,  murderers  for  votaries,  a  ravaged 
and  desolate  earth  for  his  temple  ?  Behold  then,  holy  and 
believing  people,  what  are  your  works !  behold  the  fruits  of 
your  piety !  You  have  massacred  the  people,  burned  their 
cities,  destroyed  cultivation,  reduced  the  earth  to  a  solitude ; 
and  you  ask  the  reward  of  your  works !  Miracles  then  must 
be  performed!  The  people  whom  you  extirpated  must  be 
recalled  to  life,  the  walls  rebuilt  which  you  have  overthrown, 
the  harvests  reproduced  which  you  have  destroyed,  the  waters 
regathered  which  you  have  dispersed;  the  laws,  in  fine,  of 
heaven  and  earth  reversed ;  those  laws,  established  by  God 
himself,  in  demonstration  of  his  magnificence  and  wisdom  ; 
those  eternal  laws,  anterior  to  all  codes,  to  all  the  prophets  ; 
those  immutable  laws,  which  neither  the  passions  nor  the 
ignorance  of  man  can  pervert.  But  that  passion  which  mis- 
taketh,  that  ignorance  which  observeth  neither  causes  nor 
effects,  hath  said  in  its  folly  :  "  All  things  flow  from  chance  ; 
a  blind  fatality  poureth  out  good  and  evil  upon  the  earth ; 
success  is  not  to  the  prudent,  nor  felicity  to  the  wise ; "  or, 
assuming  the  language  of  hypocrisy,  she  hath  said,  "  all  things 
are  from  God ;  he  taketh  pleasure  in  deceiving  wisdom  and 
confounding  reason."  And  Ignorance,  applauding  herself  in 
her  malice,  hath  said,  "  thus  will  I  place  myself  on  a  par  with 
that  science  which  confounds  me — thus  will  I  excel  that  pru- 
dence which  fatigues  and  torments  me."  And  Avarice  hath 
added:  "  I  will  oppress  the  weak,  and  devour  the  fruits  of  his 
labors ;  and  I  will  say,  it  is  fate  which  hath  so  ordained." 
BjLitJ  1 1  swear  by  the  laws  of  heaven  and  earth,  and  by  the 
law  which  is  written  in  the  heart  of  man,  that  the  hypocrite 
shall  be  deceived  in  his  cunning — the  oppressor  in  his  ra- 
pacity !  The  sun  shall  change  his  course,  before  folly  shall 
prevail  over  wisdom  and  knowledge,  or  ignorance  surpass 
prudence,  in  the  noble  and  sublime  art  of  procuring  to  man 
his  true  enjoyments,  and  of  building  his  happiness  on  an 
enduring  foundation. 


THE   RUINS  OF   EMPIRES.  13 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   EXPOSITION. 

THUS  spoke  the  Phantom.  Confused  with  this  discourse, 
and  my  heart  agitated  with  different  reflections,  I  re- 
mained long  in  silence.  At  length,  taking  courage,  I 
thus  addressed  him :  Oh,  Genius  of  tombs  and  ruins !  Thy 
presence,  thy  severity,  hath  disordered  my  senses ;  but  the 
justice  of  thy  discourse  restoreth  confidence  to  my  soul.  Par- 
don my  ignorance.  Alas,  if  man  is  blind,  shall  his  misfortune 
be  also  his  crime  ?  I  may  have  mistaken  the  voice  of  reason ; 
but  never,  knowingly,  have  I  rejected  its  authority.  Ah !  if 
thou  readest  my  heart,  thou  knowest  with  what  enthusiasm 
it  seeketh  truth.  Is  it  not  in  its  pursuit  that  thou  seest  me  in 
this  sequestered  spot?  Alas!  I  have  wandered  over  the 
earth,  I  have  visited  cities  and  countries ;  and  seeing  every- 
where misery  and  desolation,  a  sense  of  the  evils  which  afflict 
my  fellow  men  hath  deeply  oppressed  my  soul.  I  have  said, 
with  a  sigh :  is  man  then  born  but  for  sorrow  and  anguish  ? 
And  I  have  meditated  upon  human  misery  that  I  might  dis- 
cover a  remedy.  I  have  said,  I  will  separate  myself  from  the 
corruption  of  society  ;  I  will  retire  far  from  palaces  where  the 
mind  is  depraved  by  satiety,  and  from  the  hovel  where  it  is 
debased  by  misery.  I  will  go  into  the  desert  and  dwell  among 
ruins ;  I  will  interrogate  ancient  monuments  on  the  wisdom 
of  past  ages  ;  I  will  invoke  from  the  bosom  of  the  tombs  the 
spirit  which  once  in  Asia  gave  splendor  to  states,  and  glory 
to  nations  ;  I  will  ask  of  the  ashes  of  legislators,  by  what  secret 
causes  do  empires  rise  and  fall ;  from  what  sources  spring  the 
prosperity  and  misfortunes  of  nations  ;  on  what  principles  can 
the  peace  of  society,  and  the  happiness  of  man  be  established  ? 

I  ceased,  and  with  submissive  look  awaited  the  answer  of 
the  Genius. 

Peace  and  happiness,  said  he,  attend  those  who  practice 
justice !  Since  thy  heart,  O  mortal,  with  sincerity  seeketh 


14  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

truth;  since  thine  eyes  can  still  recognize  her  through  the 
mist  of  prejudice,  thy  prayer  shall  not  be  in  vain.  I  will 
unfold  to  thy  view  that  truth  thou  invokest ;  I  will  teach  thy 
reason  that  knowledge  thou  seekest ;  I  will  reveal  to  thee  the 
science  of  ages  and  the  wisdom  of  the  tombs. 

Then  approaching  and  laying  his  hand  on  my  head,  he  said : 

Rise,  mortal,  and  extricate  thy  senses  from  the  dust  in 
which  thou  movest. 

Suddenly  a  celestial  flame  seemed  to  dissolve  the  bands 
which  held  us  to  the  earth  ;  and,  like  a  light  vapor,  borne  on 
the  wings  of  the  Genius,  I  felt  myself  wafted  to  the  regions 
above.  Thence,  from  the  aerial  heights,  looking  down  upon 
the  earth,  I  perceived  a  scene  altogether  new.  Under  my 
feet,  floating  in  the  void,  a  globe  like  that  of  the  moon,  but 
smaller  and  less  luminous,  presented  to  me  one  of  its  phases  ; 
and  that  phase  *  had  the  aspect  of  a  disk  varigated  with  large 
spots,  some  white  and  nebulous,  others  brown,  green  or  gray, 
and  while  I  strained  my  sight  to  distinguish  what  they  were, 
the  Genius  exclaimed : 

Disciple  of  Truth,  knowest  thou  that  object? 

O  Genius,  answered  I,  if  I  did  not  see  the  moon  in  another 
quarter  of  the  heavens,  I  should  have  supposed  that  to  be  her 
globe.  It  has  the  appearance  of  that  planet  seen  through  the 
telescope  during  the  obscuration  of  an  eclipse.  These  variga- 
ted spots  might  be  mistaken  for  seas  and  continents. 

They  are  seas  and  continents,  said  he,  and  those  of  the  very 
hemisphere  which  you  inhabit. 

What!  said  I,  is  that  the  earth — the  habitation  of  man  ? 

Yes,  replied  he,  that  brown  space  which  occupies  irregu- 
larly a  great  portion  of  the  disk,  and  envelops  it  almost  on 
every  side,  is  what  you  call  the  great  ocean,  which  advancing 
from  the  south  pole  towards  the  equator,  forms  first  the  great 
gulf  of  India  and  Africa,  then  extends  eastward  across  the 
Malay  islands  to  the  confines  of  Tartary,  while  towards  the 
west  it  encircles  the  continents  of  Africa  and  of  Europe,  even 
to  the  north  of  Asia. 

That  square  peninsula  under  our  feet  is  the  arid  country  of 
th'e  Arabs ;  the  great  continent  on  its  left,  almost  as  naked 
in  its  interior,  with  a  little  verdure  only  towards  its  borders, 
*  See  Plate  representing  half  the  terrestrial  globe,  opposite  page  10. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  15 

is  the  parched  soil  inhabited  by  black-men.*  To  the  north, 
beyond  a  long,  narrow  and  irregular  sea,f  are  the  countries 
of  Europe,  rich  in  meadows  and  cultivated  fields.  On  its 
right,  from  the  Caspian  Sea,  extend  the  snowy  and  naked 
plains  of  Tartary.  Returning  in  this  direction,  that  white 
space  is  the  vast  and  barren  desert  of  Gobi,  which  separates 
China  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  You  see  that  empire  in  the 
furrowed  plain  which  obliquely  rounds  itself  off  from  our 
sight.  On  yonder  coasts,  those  ragged  tongues  of  land  and 
scattered  points  are  the  peninsulas  and  islands  of  the  Malays, 
the  wretched  possessors  of  the  spices  and  perfumes.  That 
triangle  which  advances  so  far  into  the  sea,  is  the  too  famous 
peninsula  of  India.!  You  see  the  winding  course  of  the 
Ganges,  the  rough  mountains  of  Thibet,  the  lovely  valley  of 
Cachemere,  the  briny  deserts  of  Persia,  the  banks  of  the  Eu- 
phrates and  Tygris,  the  deep  bed  of  the  Jordan  and  the  canals 
of  the  solitary  Nile. 

O  Genius,  said  I,  interrupting  him,  the  sight  of  a  mortal 
reaches  not  to  objects  at  such  a  distance.  He  touched  my 
eyes,  and  immediately  they  became  piercing  as  those  of 
an  eagle ;  nevertheless  the  rivers  still  appeared  like  waving 
lines,  the  mountains  winding  furrows,  and  the  cities  little 
compartments,  like  the  squares  of  a  chess-board. 

And  the  Genius  proceeded  to  enumerate  and  point  out  the 
objects  to  me  :  Those  piles  of  ruins,  said  he,  which  you  see 
in  that  narrow  valley  watered  by  the  Nile,  are  the  remains  of 
opulent  cities,  the  pride  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Ethiopia.  § 
Behold  the  wrecks  of  her  metropolis,  of  Thebes  with  her 

*  Africa.  t  The  Mediterranean. 

J  Of  what  real  good  has  been  the  commerce  of  India  to  the  mass  of  the  people? 
On  the  contrary,  how  great  the  evil  occasioned  by  the  superstition  of  this  coun- 
try having  been  added  to  the  general  superstition  ! 

§  In  the  new  Encyclopedia  3rd  vol.  Antiquities,  is  published  a  memoir,  respect- 
ing the  chronology  of  the  twelve  ages  anterior  to  the  passing  of  Xerxes  into 
Greece,  in  which  I  conceive  myself  to  have  proved  that  Upper  Egypt  formerly 
composed  a  distinct  kingdom,  known  to  the  Hebrews  by  the  name  of  Kous,  and 
to  which  the  appellation  of  Ethiopia  was  specially  given.  This  kingdom  pre- 
served its  independence  to  the  time  of  Psammeticus ;  at  which  period,  being 
united  to  the  Lower  Egypt,  it  lost  its  name  of  Ethiopia,  which  thenceforth  was 
bestowed  upon  the  nations  of  Nubia,  and  upon  the  different  tribes  of  blacks, 
including  Thebes,  their  metropolis. 


16  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

hundred  palaces,*  the  parent  of  cities,  and  monument  of  the 
caprice  of  destiny.  There  a  people,  now  forgotten,  discov- 
ered, while  others  were  yet  barbarians,  the  elements  of  the 

*The  idea  of  a  city  with  a  hundred  gates,  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the 
word,  is  so  absurd,  that  I  am  astonished  the  equivoque  has  not  before  been  felt. 

It  has  ever  been  the  custom  of  the  East  to  call  palaces  and  houses  of  the  great 
by  the  name  of  gates,  because  the  principal  luxury  of  these  buildings  consists  in 
the  singular  gate  leading  from  the  street  into  the  court,  at  the  farthest  extremity 
of  which  the  palace  is  situated.  It  is  under  the  vestibule  of  this  gate  that  conver- 
sation is  held  with  passengers,  and  a  sort  of  audience  and  hospitality  given.  All 
this  was  doubtless  known  to  Homer;  but  poets  make  no  commentaries,  and 
readers  love  the  marvellous. 

This  city  of  Thebes,  now  Lougsor,  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  miserable  vil- 
lage, has  left  astonishing  monuments  of  its  magnificence.  Particulars  of  this  may- 
be seen  in  the  plates  of  Norden,  in  Pocock,  and  in  the  recent  travels  of  Bruce. 
These  monuments  give  credibility  to  all  that  Homer  has  related  of  its  splendor, 
and  lead  us  to  infer  its  political  power  and  external  commerce. 

Its  geographical  position  was  favorable  to  this  twofold  object.  For,  on  one  side, 
the  valley  of  the  Nile,  singularly  fertile,  must  have  early  occasioned  a  numerous 
population ;  and,  on  the  other,  the  Red  Sea,  giving  communication  with  Arabia 
and  India,  and  the  Nile  with  Abyssinia  and  the  Mediterranean,  Thebes  was  thus 
naturally  allied  to  the  richest  countries  on  the  globe ;  an  alliance  that  procured  it 
an  activity  so  much  the  greater,  as  Lower  Egypt,  at  first  a  swamp,  was  nearly,  if 
not  totally,  uninhabited.  But  when  at  length  this  country  had  been  drained  by 
the  canals  and  dikes  which  Sesostris  constructed,  population  was  introduced 
there,  and  wars  arose  which  proved  fatal  to  the  power  of  Thebes-  Commerce 
then  took  another  route,  and  descended  to  the  point  of  the  Red  Sea,  to  the  canals 
of  Sesostris  (see  Strabo),  and  wealth  and  activity  were  transferred  to  Memphis. 
This  is  manifestly  what  Diodorus  means  when  he  tells  us  (lib.  i.  sect.  2),  that  as 
soon  as  Memphis  was  established  and  made  a  wholesome  and  delicious  abode, 
kings  abandoned  Thebes  to  fix  themselves  there.  Thus  Thebes  continued  to  de- 
cline, and  Memphis  to  flourish,  till  the  time  of  Alexander,  who,  building  Alexandria 
on  the  border  of  the  sea,  caused  Memphis  to  fall  in  its  turn  ;  so  that  prosperity  and 
power  seem  to  have  descended  historically  step  by  step  along  the  Nile ;  whence  it 
results,  both  physically  and  historically,  that  the  existence  of  Thebes  was  prior  to 
that  of  the  other  cities.  The  testimony  of  writers  is  very  positive  in  this  respect. 
"  The  Thebans,"  says  Diodorus,  "  consider  themselves  as  the  most  ancient  people 
of  the  earth,  and  assert,  that  with  them  originated  philosophy  and  the  science  of 
the  stars.  Their  situation,  it  is  true,  is  infinitely  favorable  to  astronomical  obser- 
vation, and  they  have  a  more  accurate  division  of  time  into  months  and  years  than 
other  nations,"  etc. 

What  Diodorus  says  of  the  Thebans,  every  author,  and  himself  elsewhere, 
repeat  of  the  Ethiopians,  which  tends  more  firmly  to  establish  the  identity  of  this 
place  of  which  I  have  spoken.  "  The  Ethiopians  conceive  themselves,"  says  he, 
lib.  iii.,  "to  be  of  greater  antiquity  than  any  other  nation  :  and  it  is  probable  that, 
born  under  the  sun's  path,  its  warmth  may  have  ripened  them  earlier  than  other 
men.  They  suppose  themselves  also  to  be  the  inventors  of  divine  worship,  of  festi- 
vals, of  solemn  assemblies,  of  sacrifices,  and  every  other  religious  practice.  They 
affirm  that  the  Egyptians  are  one  of  their  colonies,  and  that  the  Delta,  which  was 
formerly  sea,  became  land  by  the  conglomeration  of  the  earth  of  the  higher  country 
which  was  washed  down  by  the  Nile.  They  have,  like  the  Egyptians,  two  species 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  17 

arts  and  sciences.  A  race  of  men  now  rejected  from  society 
for  their  sable  skin  and  frizzled  hair,  founded  on  the  study  of 
the  laws  of  nature,  those  civil  and  religious  systems  which 
still  govern  the  universe.  Lower  down,  those  dusky  points 
are  the  pyramids  whose  masses  have  astonished  you.  Beyond 
that,  the  coast,  hemmed  in  between  the  sea  and  a  narrow 
ridge  of  mountains,  was  the  habitation  of  the  Phoenicians. 
These  were  the  famous  cities  of  Tyre,  of  Sidon,  of  Ascalon,  of 
Gaza,  and  of  Berytus.  That  thread  of  water  with  no  outlet,  is 
the  river  Jordan  ;  and  those  naked  rocks  were  once  the  theatre 
of  events  that  have  resounded  throughout  the  world.  Behold 
that  desert  of  Horeb,  and  that  Mount  Sinai ;  where,  by  means 
beyond  vulgar  reach,  a  genius,  profound  and  bold,  established 
institutions  which  have  weighed  on  the  whole  human  race. 
On  that  dry  shore  which  borders  it,  you  perceive  no  longer 
any  trace  of  splendor ;  yet  there  was  an  emporium  of  riches. 
There  were  those  famous  Ports  of  Idumea,  whence  the  fleets 
of  Phoenicia  and  Judea,  coasting  the  Arabian  peninsula,  went 

ofletters,  hieroglyphics,  and  the  alphabet ;  but  among  the  Egyptians  the  first  was 
known  only  to  the  priests,  and  by  them  transmitted  from  father  to  son,  whereas 
both  species  were  common  among  the  Ethiopians." 

"  The  Ethiopians,"  says  Lucian,  page  985,  "  were  the  first  who  invented  the 
science  of  the  stars,  and  gave  names  to  the  planets,  not  at  random  and  without 
meaning,  but  descriptive  of  the  qualities  which  they  conceived  them  to  possess  ; 
and  it  was  from  them  that  this  art  passed,  still  in  an  imperfect  state,  to  the  Egyp- 
tians." 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  citations  upon  this  subject ;  from  all  which  it  fol- 
lows, that  we  have  the  strongest  reasons  to  believe  that  the  country'  neighboring 
to  the  tropic  was  the  cradle  of  the  sciences,  and  of  consequence  that  the  first 
learned  nation  was  a  nation  of  Blacks  ;  for  it  is  incontrovertible,  that,  by  the  term 
Ethiopians,  the  ancients  meant  to  represent  a  people  of  black  complexion,  thick 
lips,  and  woolly  hair.  I  am  therefore  inclined  to  believe,  that  the  inhabitants  of 
Lower  Egypt  were  originally  a  foreign  colony  imported  from  Syria  and  Arabia,  a 
medley  of  different  tribes  of  savages,  originally  shepherds  and  fishermen,  who,  by 
degrees  formed  themselves  into  a  nation,  and  who,  by  nature  and  descent,  were 
enemies  of  the  Thebans,  by  whom  they  were  no  doubt  despised  and  treated  as 
barbarians. 

I  have  suggested  the  same  ideas  in  my  Travels  into  Syria,  founded  upon  the 
black  complexion  of  the  Sphinx.  I  have  since  ascertained  that  the  antique  images 
of  Thebias  have  the  same  characteristic  ;  and  Mr.  Bruce  has  offered  a  multitude  of 
analogous  facts  ;  but  this  traveller,  of  whom  I  heard  some  mention  at  Cairo,  has  so 
interwoven  these  facts  with  certain  systematic  opinions,  that  we  should  have  re- 
course to  his  narratives  with  caution. 

It  is  singular  that  Africa,  situated  so  near  us,  should  be  the  least  known  country 
on  the  earth.  The  English  are  at  this  moment  making  explorations,  the  success 
of  which  ought  to  excite  our  emulation. 


l8  THE   RUINS  OF   EMPIRES. 

into  the  Persian  gulf,  to  seek  there  the  pearls  of  Hevila,  the 
gold  of  Saba  and  of  Ophir.  Yes,  there  on  that  coast  of  Oman 
and  of  Barhain  was  the  seat  of  that  commerce  of  luxuries, 
which,  by  its  movements  and  revolutions,  fixed  the  destinies 
of  ancient  nations.*  Thither  came  the  spices  and  precious 
stones  of  Ceylon,  the  shawls  of  Cassimere,  the  diamonds  of 
Golconda,  the  amber  of  Maldivia,  the  musk  of  Thibet,  the 
aloes  of  Cochin,  the  apes  and  peacocks  of  the  continent  of 

•Allah  (Eloth),  and  Atsiom-Gaber  (Hesion-Geber.)  The  name  of  the  first  of 
these  towns  still  subsists  in  its  ruins,  at  the  point  of  the  gulf  of  the  Red  Sea,  and 
in  the  route  which  the  pilgrims  take  to  Mecca.  Hesion  has  at  present  no  trace, 
any  more  than  Quolzoum  and  Faran  :  it  was,  however,  the  harbor  for  the  fleets  of 
Solomon.  The  vessels  of  this  prince  conducted  by  the  Tyrians,  sailed  along  the 
coast  of  Arabia  to  Ophir,  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  thus  opening  a  communication  with 
the  merchants  of  India  and  Ceylon.  That  this  navigation  was  entirely  of  Tyrian 
invention,  appears  both  from  the  pilots  and  shipbuilders  employed  by  the  Jews, 
and  the  names  that  were  given  to  the  trading  islands,  viz.  Tyrus  and  Aradus,  now 
Barhain.  The  voyage  was  performed  in  two  different  modes,  either  in  canoes  of 
osier  and  rushes,  covered  on  the  outside  with  skins  done  over  with  pitch  :  (these 
vessels  were  unable  to  quit  the  Red  Sea,  or  so  much  as  to  leave  the  shore.)  The 
second  mode  of  carrying  on  the  trade  was  by  means  of  vessels  with  decks  of  the 
size  of  our  river  boats,  which  were  able  to  pass  the  strait  and  to  weather  the 
dangers  of  the  ocean  ;  but  for  this  purpose  it  was  necessary  to  bring  the  wood  from 
Mount  Libanus  and  Cilicia,  where  it  is  very  fine  and  in  great  abundance.  This 
wood  was  first  conveyed  in  floats  from  Tarsus  to  Phoenicia,  for  which  reason  the 
vessels  were  called  ships  of  Tarsus ;  from  whence  it  has  been  ridiculously  inferred, 
that  they  went  round  the  promontory  of  Africa  as  far  as  Tortosa  in  Spain.  From 
Phoenicia  it  was  transported  on  the  backs  of  camels  to  the  Red  Sea,  which  practice 
still  continues,  because  the  shores  of  this  sea  are  absolutely  unprovided  with  wood 
even  for  fuel.  These  vessels  spent  a  complete  year  in  their  voyage,  that  is,  sailed 
one  year,  sojourned  another,  and  did  not  return  till  the  third.  This  tediousness 
was  owing  first  to  their  cruising  from  port  to  port,  as  they  do  at  present ;  secondly, 
to  their  being  detained  by  the  Monsoon  currents;  and  thirdly,  because,  according 
to  the  calculations  of  Pliny  and  Strabo,  it  was  the  ordinary  practice  among  the 
ancients  to  spend  three  years  in  a  voyage  of  twelve  hundred  leagues.  Such  a 
commerce  must  have  been  very  expensive,  particularly  as  they  were  obliged  to 
carry  with  them  their  provisions,  and  even  fresh  water.  For  this  reason  Solomon 
made  himself  master  of  Palmyra,  which  was  at  that  time  inhabited,  and  was 
already  the  magazine  and  high  road  of  merchants  by  the  way  of  the  Euphrates. 
This  conquest  brought  Solomon  much  nearer  to  the  country  of  gold  and  pearls. 
This  alternative  of  a  route  either  by  the  Red  Sea  or  by  the  river  Euphrates  was 
to  the  ancients,  what  in  later  times  has  been  the  alternative  in  a  voyage  to  the 
Indies,  either  by  crossing  the  Isthmus  of  Suez  or  doubling  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  It  appears  that  till  the  time  of  Moses,  this  trade  was  carried  on  across 
the  desert  of  Syria  and  Thebais ;  that  afterwards  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Phoenicians,  who  fixed  its  site  upon  the  Red  Sea ;  and  that  it  was  mutual  jealousy 
that  induced  the  kings  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  to  undertake  the  destruction  of 
Tyre  and  Jerusalem.  I  insist  the  more  upon  these  facts,  because  I  have  never 
seen  any  thing  reasonable  upon  the  subject. 


ifoith 


1  ri 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  19 

India,  the  incense  of  Hadramaut,  the  myrrh,  the  silver,  the 
gold  dust  and  ivory  of  Africa  ;  thence  passing,  sometimes  by 
the  Red  Sea  on  the  vessels  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  these  luxuries 
nourished  successively  the  wealth  of  Thebes,  of  Sidon,  of 
Memphis  and  of  Jerusalem ;  sometimes,  ascending  the  Tygris 
and  Euphrates,  they  awakened  the  activity  of  the  Assyrians, 
Medes,  Chaldeans,  and  Persians  ;  and  that  wealth,  according 
to  the  use  or  abuse  of  it,  raised  or  reversed  by  turns  their 
domination.  Hence  sprung  the  magnificence  of  Persepolis, 
whose  columns  you  still  perceive  ;  of  Ecbatana,  whose  seven- 
fold wall  is  destroyed ;  of  Babylon,*  now  leveled  with  the 
earth ;  of  Nineveh,  of  which  scarce  the  name  remains ;  of 
Thapsacus,  of  Anatho,  of  Gerra,  and  of  desolated  Palmyra. 
O  names  for  ever  glorious !  fields  of  renown !  countries  of 
never-dying  memory !  what  sublime  lessons  doth  your  aspect 
offer!  what  profound  truths  are  written  on  the  surface  of  your 
soil  !  remembrances  of  times  past,  return  into  my  mind  ! 
places,  witnesses  of  the  life  of  man  in  so  many  different  ages, 
retrace  for  me  the  revolutions  of  his  fortune !  say,  what  were 
their  springs  and  secret  causes !  say,  from  what  sources  he 
derived  success  and  disgrace  !  unveil  to  himself  the  causes  of 
his  evils!  correct  him  by  the  spectacle  of  his  errors!  teach 
him  the  wisdom  which  belongeth  to  him,  and  let  the  experi- 
ence of  past  ages  become  a  means  of  instruction,  and  a  germ 
of  happiness  to  present  and  future  generations. 

*  It  appears  that  Babylon  occupied  on  the  eastern  banks  of  the  Euphrates  a 
space  of  ground  six  leagues  in  length.  Throughout  this  space  bricks  are  found 
by  means  of  which  daily  additions  are  made  to  the  town  of  Helle.  Upon  many 
of  these  are  characters  written  with  a  nail  similar  to  those  of  Persepolis.  I  am 
indebted  for  these  facts  to  M.  de  Beauchamp,  grand  vicar  of  Babylon,  a  traveller 
equally  distinguished  for  his  knowledge  of  astronomy  and  for  his  veracity. 


2O  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

CHAPTER    V. 

CONDITION   OF   MAN   IN   THE   UNIVERSE. 

THE  Genius,  after  some  moments  of  silence,  resumed  in 
these  words : 

I  have  told  thee  already,  O  friend  of  truth !  that  man 
vainly  ascribes  his  misfortunes  to  obscure  and  imaginary 
agents ;  in  vain  he  seeks  as  the  source  of  his  evils  mysterious 
and  remote  causes.  In  the  general  order  of  the  universe  his 
condition  is,  doubtless,  subject  to  inconveniences,  and  his 
existence  governed  by  superior  powers  ;  but  those  powers 
are  neither  the  decrees  of  a  blind  fatality,  nor  the  caprices  of 
whimsical  and  fantastic  beings.  Like  the  world  of  which  he 
forms  a  part,  man  is  governed  by  natural  laws,  regular  in 
their  course,  uniform  in  their  effects,  immutable  in  their  es- 
sence ;  and  those  laws, — the  common  source  of  good  and 
evil, —  are  not  written  among  the  distant  stars,  nor  hidden  in 
codes  of  mystery  ;  inherent  in  the  nature  of  terrestrial  beings, 
interwoven  with  their  existence,  at  all  times  and  in  all  places, 
they  are  present  to  man  ;  they  act  upon  his  senses,  they  warn 
his  understanding,  and  give  to  every  action  its  reward  or 
punishment.  Let  man  then  know  these  laws !  let  him  com- 
prehend the  nature  of  the  elements  which  surround  him,  and 
also  his  own  nature,  and  he  will  know  the  regulators  of  his 
destiny  ;  he  will  know  the  causes  of  his  evils  and  the  reme- 
dies he  should  apply. 

When  the  hidden  power  which  animates  the  universe, 
formed  the  globe  which  man  inhabits,  he  implanted  in  the 
beings  composing  it,  essential  properties  which  became  the 
law  of  their  individual  motion,  the  bond  of  their  reciprocal 
relations,  the  cause  of  the  harmony  of  the  whole;  he  thereby 
established  a  regular  order  of  causes  and  effects,  of  principles 
and  consequences,  which,  under  an  appearance  of  chance, 
governs  the  universe,  and  maintains  the  equilibrium  of  the 
world.  Thus,  he  gave  to  fire,  motion  and  activity ;  to  air, 


THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  21 

elasticity ;  weight  and  density  to  matter ;  he  made  air  lighter 
than  water,  metal  heavier  than  earth,  wood  less  cohesive  than 
steel ;  he  decreed  flame  to  ascend,  stones  to  fall,  plants  to 
vegetate ;  to  man,  who  was  to  be  exposed  to  the  action  of  so 
many  different  beings,  and  still  to  preserve  his  frail  life,  he 
gave  the  faculty  of  sensation.  By  this  faculty  all  action  hurt- 
ful to  his  existence  gives  him  a  feeling  of  pain  and  evil,  and 
all  which  is  salutary,  of  pleasure  and  happiness.  By  these 
sensations,  man,  sometimes  averted  from  that  which  wounds 
his  senses,  sometimes  allured  towards  that  which  soothes 
them,  has  been  obliged  to  cherish  and  preserve  his  own  life ; 
thus,  self-love,  the  desire  of  happiness,  aversion  to  pain,  be- 
come the  essential  and  primary  laws  imposed  on  man  by 
nature  herself — the  laws  which  the  directing  power,  whatever 
it  be,  has  established  for  his  government — and  which  laws, 
like  those  of  motion  in  the  physical  world,  are  the  simple  and 
fruitful  principle  of  whatever  happens  in  the  moral  world. 

Such,  then,  is  the  condition  of  man :  on  one  side,  exposed 
to  the  action  of  the  elements  which  surround  him,  he  is  sub- 
ject to  many  inevitable  evils  ;  and  if,  in  this  decree,  nature  has 
been  severe,  on  the  other  hand,  just  and  even  indulgent,  she 
has  not  only  tempered  the  evils  with  equivalent  good,  she 
has  also  enabled  him  to  increase  the  good  and  alleviate  the 
evil.  She  seems  to  say : 

"  Feeble  work  of  my  hands,  I  owe  thee  nothing,  and  I  give 
thee  life;  the  world  wherein  I  placed  thee  was  not  made  for 
thee,  yet  I  give  thee  the  use  of  it ;  thou  wilt  find  in  it  a  mixture 
of  good  and  evil ;  it  is  for  thee  to  distinguish  them  ;  for  thee 
to  guide  thy  footsteps  in  a  path  containing  thorns  as  well  as 
roses.  Be  the  arbiter  of  thine  own  fate ;  I  put  thy  destiny 
into  thine  own  hands  !  " 

Yes,  man  is  made  the  architect  of  his  own  destiny ;  he,  him- 
self, hath  been  the  cause  of  the  successes  or  reverses  of  his 
own  fortune  ;  and  if,  on  a  review  of  all  the  pains  with  which 
he  has  tormented  his  own  life,  he  finds  reason  to  weep  over 
his  own  weakness  or  imprudence,  yet,  considering  the  begin- 
nings from  which  he  sat  out,  and  the  height  attained,  he  has, 
perhaps,  still  reason  to  presume  on  his  strength,  and  to  pride 
himself  on  his  genius. 


22  THE -RUINS  OF   EMPIRES. 

t 

CHAPTER   VI. 

THE  PRIMITIVE  STATE  OF  MAN. 

FORMED  naked  in  body  and  in  mind,  man  at  first  found 
himself  thrown,  as  it  were  by  chance,  on  a  rough  and 
savage  land:  an  orphan,  abandoned  by  the  unknown 
power  which  had  produced  him,  he  saw  not  by  his  side  beings 
descended  from  heaven  to  warn  him  of  those  wants  which 
arise  only  from  his  senses,  nor  to  instruct  him  in  those  duties 
which  spring  only  from  his  wants.  Like  to  other  animals, 
without  experience  of  the  past,  without  foresight  of  the 
future,  he  wandered  in  the  bosom  of  the  forest,  guided  only 
and  governed  by  the  affections  of  his  nature.  By  the  pain  of 
hunger,  he  was  led  to  seek  food  and  provide  for  his  subsist- 
ence ;  by  the  inclemency  of  the  air,  he  was  urged  to  cover  his 
body,  and  he  made  him  clothes ;  by  the  attraction  of  a  pow- 
erful pleasure,  he  approached  a  being  like  himself,  and  he 
perpetuated  his  kind. 

Thus  the  impressions  which  he  received  from  every  object, 
awakening  his  faculties,  developed  by  degrees  his  under- 
standing, and  began  to  instruct  his  profound  ignorance :  his 
wants  excited  industry,  dangers  formed  his  courage  ;  he 
learned  to  distinguish  useful  from  noxious  plants,  to  combat 
the  elements,  to  seize  his  prey,  to  defend  his  life ;  and  thus 
he  alleviated  its  miseries. 

Thus  self-love,  aversion  to  pain,  the  desire  of  happiness, 
were  the  simple  and  powerful  excitements  which  drew  man 
from  the  savage  and  barbarous  condition  in  which  nature  had 
placed  him.  And  now,  when  his  life  is  replete  with  enjoy- 
ments, when  he  may  count  each  day  by  the  comforts  it  brings, 
he  may  applaud  himself  and  say : 

"  It  is  I  who  have  produced  the  comforts  which  surround 
me  ;  it  is  I  who  am  the  author  of  my  own  happiness  ;  a  safe 
dwelling,  convenient  clothing,  abundant  and  wholesome 
nourishment,  smiling  fields,  fertile  hills,  populous  empires, 
all  is  my  work;  without  me  this  earth,  given  up  to  disorder, 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  23 

would  have  been  but  a  filthy  fen,  a  wild  wood,  a  dreary 
desert." 

Yes,  creative  man,  receive  my  homage  !  Thouiiast  meas- 
ured the  span  of  the  heavens,  calculated  the  volume  of  the 
stars,  arrested  the  lightning  in  its  clouds,  subdued  seas  and 
storms,  subjected  all  the  elements.  Ah !  how  are  so  many 
sublime  energies  allied  to  so  many  errors  ? 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PRINCIPLES  OF  SOCIETY. 

WANDERING  in  the  woods  and  on  the  banks  of  rivers 
in  pursuit  of  game  and  fish,  the  first  men,  beset  with 
dangers,  assailed  by  enemies,  tormented  by  hunger, 
by  reptiles,  by  ravenous  beasts,  felt  their  own  individual 
weakness ;  and,  urged  by  a  common  need  of  safety,  and  a 
reciprocal  sentiment  of  like  evils,  they  united  their  resources 
and  their  strength  ;  and  when  one  incurred  a  danger,  many 
aided  and  succored  him  ;  when  one  wanted  subsistence,  an- 
other shared  his  food  with  him.  Thus  men  associated  to 
secure  their  existence,  to  augment  their  powers,  to  protect 
their  enjoyments  ;  and  self-love  thus  became  the  principle  of 
society. 

Instructed  afterwards  by  the  experience  of  various  and  re- 
peated accidents,  by  the  fatigues  of  a  wandering  life,  by  the 
distress  of  frequent  scarcity,  men  reasoned  with  themselves 
and  said  : 

"  Why  consume  our  days  in  seeking  scattered  fruits  from  a 
parsimonious  soil  ?  why  exhaust  ourselves  in  pursuing  prey 
which  eludes  us  in  the  woods  or  waters  ?  why  not  collect 
under  our  hands  the  animals  that  nourish  us  ?  why  not  apply 
our  cares  in  multiplying  and  preserving  them  ?  We  will 
feed  on  their  increase,  be  clothed  in  their  skins,  and  live  ex- 
empt from  the  fatigues  of  the  day  and  solicitude  for  the 
morrow." 


24  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

And  men,  aiding  one  another,  seized  the  nimble  goat,  the 
timid  sheep  ;  they  tamed  the  patient  camel,  the  fierce  bull,  the 
impetuous *horse ;  and,  applauding  their  own  industry,  they 
sat  down  in  the  joy  of  their  souls,  and  began  to  taste  repose 
and  comfort :  and  self-love,  the  principle  of  all  reasoning,  be- 
came the  incitement  to  every  art,  and  every  enjoyment. 

When,  therefore,  men  could  pass  long  days  in  leisure,  and 
in  communication  of  their  thoughts,  they  began  to  contem- 
plate the  earth,  the  heavens,  and  their  own  existence,  as 
objects  of  curiosity  and  reflection  ;  they  remarked  the  course 
of  the  seasons,  the  action  of  the  elements,  the  properties  of 
fruits  and  plants ;  and  applied  their  thoughts  to  the  multipli- 
cation of  their  enjoyments.  And  in  some  countries,  having 
observed  that  certain  seeds  contained  a  wholesome  nourish- 
ment in  a  small  volume,  convenient  for  transportation  and 
preservation,  they  imitated  the  process  of  nature  ;  they  con- 
fided to  the  earth  rice,  barley,  and  corn,  which  multiplied  to 
the  full  measure  of  their  hope  ;  and  having  found  the  means 
of  obtaining  within  a  small  compass  and  without  removal, 
plentiful  subsistence  and  durable  stores,  they  established 
themselves  in  fixed  habitations ;  they  built  houses,  villages, 
and  towns  ;  formed  societies  and  nations  ;  and  self-love  pro- 
duced all  the  developments  of  genius  and  of  power. 

Thus  by  the  aid  of  his  own  faculties,  man  has  raised  himself 
to  the  astonishing  height  of  his  present  fortune.  Too  happy 
if,  observing  scrupulously  the  law  of  his  being,  he  had  faith- 
fully fulfilled  its  only  and  true  object !  But,  by  a  fatal  impru- 
dence, sometimes  mistaking,  sometimes  transgressing  its 
limits,  he  has  launched  forth  into  a  labyrinth  of  errors  and 
misfortunes ;  and  self-love,  sometimes  unruly,  sometimes 
blind,  became  a  principle  fruitful  in  calamities. 


THE    RUINS    OF   EMPIRES.  25 

CHAPTER    VIII. 

SOURCES   OF  THE   EVILS  OF  SOCIETY. 

IN  truth,  scarcely  were  the  faculties  of  men  developed,  when, 
inveigled  by  objects  which  gratify  the  senses,  they  gave 
themselves  up  to  unbridled  desires.  The  sweet  sensations 
which  nature  had  attached  to  their  real  .wants,  to  endear  to 
them  their  existence,  no  longer  satisfied  them.  Not  content 
with  the  abundance  offered  by  the  earth  or  produced  by  in- 
dustry, they  wished  to  accumulate  enjoyments,  and  coveted 
those  possessed  by  their  fellow  men.  The  strong  man  rose 
up  against  the  feeble,  to  take  from  him  the  fruit  of  his  labor ; 
the  feeble  invoked  another  feeble  one  to  repel  the  violence. 
Two  strong  ones  then  said  : 

"  Why  fatigue  ourselves  to  produce  enjoyments  which  we 
may  find  in  the  hands  of  the  weak?  Let  us  join  and  despoil 
them ;  they  shall  labor  for  us,  and  we  will  enjoy  without  labor." 

And  the  strong  associating  for  oppression,  and  the  weak 
for  resistance,  men  mutually  afflicted  each  other  ;  and  a  gen- 
eral and  fatal  discord  spread  over  the  earth,  in  which  the 
passions,  assuming  a  thousand  new  forms,  have  generated  a 
continued  chain  of  misfortunes. 

Thus  the  same  self-love  which,  moderate  and  prudent,  was 
a  principle  of  happiness  and  perfection,  becoming  blind  and 
disordered,  was  transformed  into  a  corrupting  poison ;  and 
cupidity,  offspring  and  companion  of  ignorance,  became  the 
cause  of  all  the  evils  that  have  desolated  the  earth. 

Yes,  ignorance  and  cupidity  !  these  are  the  twin  sources  of 
all  the  torments  of  man  !  Biased  by  these  into  false  ideas  of 
happiness,  he  has  mistaken  or  broken  the  laws  of  nature  in 
his  own  relation  with  external  objects  ;  and  injuring  his  own 
existence,  has  violated  individual  morality  ;  shutting  through 
these  his  heart  to  compassion,  and  his  mind  to  justice,  he  has 
injured  and  afflicted  his  equal,  and  violated  social  morality. 
From  ignorance  and  cupidity,  man  has  armed  against  man, 


26  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

family  against  family,  tribe  against  tribe ;  and  the  earth  is 
become  a  theatre  of  blood,  of  discord,  and  of  rapine.  By 
ignorance  and  cupidity,  a  secret  war,  fermenting  in  the  bosom 
of  every  state,  has  separated  citizen  from  citizen ;  and  the 
same  society  has  divided  itself  into  oppressors  and  oppressed, 
into  masters  and  slaves ;  by  these,  the  heads  of  a  nation, 
sometimes  insolent  and  audacious,  have  forged  its  chains 
within  its  own  bowels ;  and  mercenary  avarice  has  founded 
political  despotism.  Sometimes,  hypocritical  and  cunning, 
they  have  called  from  heaven  a  lying  power,  and  a  sacrilegious 
yoke ;  and  credulous  cupidity  has  founded  religious  despotism. 
By  these  have  been  perverted  the  ideas  of  good  and  evil,  just 
and  unjust,  vice  and  virtue  ;  and  nations  have  wandered  in  a 
labyrinth  of  errors  and  calamities. 

The  cupidity  of  man  and  his  ignorance, — these  are  the  evil 
genii  which  have  wasted  the  earth  !  These  are  the  decrees 
of  fate  which  have  overthrown  empires !  These  are  the 
celestial  anathemas  which  have  smitten  these  walls  once  so 
glorious,  and  converted  the  splendor  of  a  populous  city  into 
a  solitude  of  mourning  and  of  ruins!  But  as  in  the  bosom  of 
man  have  sprung  all  the  evils  which  have  afflicted  his  life, 
there  he  also  is  to  seek  and  to  find  their  remedies. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

ORIGIN   OF   GOVERNMENT   AND    LAWS. 

IN  fact,  it  soon  happened  that  men,  fatigued  with  the  evils 
they  reciprocally  inflicted,  began  to  sigh  for  peace ;  and 
reflecting  on  their  misfortunes  and  the  causes  of  them, 
they  said : 

"  We  are  mutually  injuring  each  other  by  our  passions  ; 
and,  aiming  to  grasp  every  thing,  we  hold  nothing.  What 
one  seizes  to-day,  another  takes  to-morrow,  and  our  cupidity 
reacts  upon  ourselves.  Let  us  establish  judges,  who  shall 
arbitrate  our  rights,  and  settle  our  differences.  When  the 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES  27 

strong  shall  rise  against  the  weak,  the  judge  shall  restrain 
him,  and  dispose  of  our  force  to  suppress  violence ;  and  the 
life  and  property  of  each  shall  be  under  the  guarantee  and 
protection  of  all ;  and  all  shall  enjoy  the  good  things  of  nature." 

Conventions  were  thus  formed  in  society,  sometimes  ex- 
press, sometimes  tacit,  which  became  the  rule  for  the  action 
of  individuals,  the  measure  of  their  rights,  the  law  of  their 
reciprocal  relations ;  and  persons  were  appointed  to  superin- 
tend their  observance,  to  whom  the  people  confided  the 
balance  to  weigh  rights,  and  the  sword  to  punish  trans- 
gressions. 

Thus  was  established  among  individuals  a  happy  equilib- 
rium of  force  and  action,  which  constituted  the  common 
security.  The  name  of  equity  and  of  justice  was  recognized 
and  revered  over  the  earth ;  every  one,  assured  of  enjoying  in 
peace,  the  fruits  of  his  toil,  pursued  with  energy  the  objects 
of  his  attention  ;  and  industry,  excited  and  maintained  by  the 
reality  or  the  hope  of  enjoyment,  developed  all  the  riches  of 
art  and  of  nature.  The  fields  were  covered  with  harvests, 
the  valleys  with  flocks,  the  hills  with  fruits,  the  sea  with 
vessels,  and  man  became  happy  and  powerful  on  the  earth. 
Thus  did  his  own  wisdom  repair  the  disorder  which  his  im- 
prudence had  occasioned ;  and  that  wisdom  was  only  the 
effect  of  his  own  organization.  He  respected  the  enjoyments 
of  others  in  order  to  secure  his  own ;  and  cupidity  found  its 
corrective  in  the  enlightened  love  of  self. 

Thus  the  love  of  self,  the  moving  principle  of  every  individ- 
ual, becomes  the  necessary  foundation  of  every  association  ; 
and  on  the  observance  of  that  law  of  our  nature  has  depended 
the  fate  of  nations.  Have  the  factitious  and  conventional 
laws  tended  to  that  object  and  accomplished  that  aim  ?  Every 
one,  urged  by  a  powerful  instinct,  has  displayed  all  the  facul- 
ties of  his  being ;  and  the  sum  of  individual  felicities  has  con- 
stituted the  general  felicity.  Have  these  laws,  on  the  contrary, 
restrained  the  effort  of  man  toward  his  own  happiness  ?  His 
heart,  deprived  of  its  exciting  principle,  has  languished  in 
inactivity,  and  from  the  oppression  of  individuals  has  resulted 
the  weakness  of  the  state. 

As  self-love,  impetuous  and  improvident,  is  ever  urging 
man  against  his  equal,  and  consequently  tends  to  dissolve 


28  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

society,  the  art  of  legislation  and  the  merit  of  administrators 
consists  in  attempering  the  conflict  of  individual  cupidities, 
in  maintaining  an  equilibrium  of  powers,  and  securing  to 
every  one  his  happiness,  in  order  that,  in  the  shock  of  society 
against  society,  all  the  members  may  have  a  common  interest 
in  the  preservation  and  defence  of  the  public  welfare. 

The  internal  splendor  and  prosperity  of  empires  then,  have 
had  for  their  efficient  cause  the  equity  of  their  laws  and  gov- 
ernment ;  and  their  respective  external  powers  have  been  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  persons  interested,  and  their 
degree  of  interest  in  the  public  welfare. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  multiplication  of  men,  by  complica- 
ting their  relations,  having  rendered  the  precise  limitation  of 
their  rights  difficult,  the  perpetual  play  of  the  passions  having 
produced  incidents  not  foreseen — their  conventions  having 
been  vicious,  inadequate,  or  nugatory — in  fine,  the  authors  of 
the  laws  having  sometimes  mistaken,  sometimes  disguised 
their  objects  ;  and  their  ministers,  instead  of  restraining  the 
cupidity  of  others,  having  given  themselves  up  to  their  own  ; 
all  these  causes  have  introduced  disorder  and  trouble  into 
societies ;  and  the  viciousness  of  laws  and  the  injustice  of 
governments,  flowing  from  cupidity  and  ignorance,  have 
become  the  causes  of  the  misfortunes  of  nations,  and  the  sub- 
version of  states. 


CHAPTER    X. 

GENERAL   CAUSES   OF  THE   PROSPERITY  OF  ANCIENT    STATES. 

SUCH,  O  man  who  seekest  wisdom,  such  have  been  the 
causes  of  revolution  in  the  ancient  states  of  which  thou 
contemplatest  the  ruins !    To  whatever  spot  I  direct  my 
view,  to  whatever  period  my  thoughts  recur,  the  same  princi- 
ples of  growth  or  destruction,  of  rise  or  fall,  present  them- 
selves to  my  mind.    Wherever  a  people  is  powerful,  or  an 
empire  prosperous,  there  the  conventional  laws  are  conforma- 
ble with  the  laws  of  nature  —  the  government  there  procures 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  29 

for  its  citizens  a  free  use  of  their  faculties,  equal  security  for 
their  persons  and  property.  If,  on  the  contrary,  an  empire 
goes  to  ruin,  or  dissolves,  it  is  because  its  laws  have  been 
vicious,  or  imperfect,  or  trodden  under  foot  by  a  corrupt  gov- 
ernment. If  the  laws  and  government,  at  first  wise  and  just, 
become  afterwards  depraved,  it  is  because  the  alternation  of 
good  and  evil  is  inherent  to  the  heart  of  man,  to  a  change  in 
his  propensities,  to  his  progress  in  knowledge,  to  a  combina- 
tion of  circumstances  and  events  ;  as  is  proved  by  the  history 
of  the  species. 

In  the  infancy  of  nations,  when  men  yet  lived  in  the  forest, 
subject  to  the  same  wants,  endowed  with  the  same  faculties, 
ah  were  nearly  equal  in  strength ;  and  that  equality  was  a  cir- 
cumstance highly  advantageous  in  the  composition  of  society : 
as  every  individual,  thus  feeling  himself  sufficiently  inde- 
pendent of  every  other,  no  one  was  the  slave,  none  thought 
of  being  the  master  of  another.  Man,  then  a  novice,  knew 
neither  servitude  nor  tyranny ;  furnished  with  resources  suf- 
ficient for  his  existence,  he  thought  not  of  borrowing  from 
others  ;  owning  nothing,  requiring  nothing,  he  judged  the 
rights  of  others  by  his  own,  and  formed  ideas  of  justice  suf- 
ficiently exact.  Ignorant,  moreover,  in  the  art  of  enjoyments, 
unable  to  produce  more  than  his  necessaries,  possessing 
nothing  superfluous,  cupidity  remained  dormant;  or  if  ex- 
cited, man,  attacked  in  his  real  wants,  resisted  it  with' energy, 
and  the  foresight  of  such  resistance  ensured  a  happy  balance. 

Thus  original  equality,  in  default  of  compact,  maintained 
freedom  of  person,  security  of  property,  good  manners,  and 
order.  Every  one  labored  by  himself  and  for  himself;  and  the 
mind  of  man,  being  occupied,  wandered  not  to  culpable  de- 
sires. He  had  few  enjoyments,  but  his  wants  were  satisfied ; 
and  as  indulgent  nature  had  made  them  less  than  his  resources, 
the  labor  of  his  hands  soon  produced  abundance — abundance, 
population  ;  the  arts  unfolded,  culture  extended,  and  the  earth, 
covered  with  numerous  inhabitants,  was  divided  into  different 
dominions. 

The  relations  of  man  becoming  complicated,  the  internal 
order  of  societies  became  more  difficult  to  maintain.  Time 
and  industry  having  generated  riches,  cupidity  became  more 
active ;  and  because  equality,  practicable  among  individuals, 


30  THE    RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

could  not  subsist  among  families,  the  natural  equilibrium  was 
broken  ;  it  became  necessary  to  supply  it  by  a  factitious  equi- 
librium ;  to  set  up  chiefs,  to  establish  laws ;  and  in  the  prim- 
itive inexperience,  it  necessarily  happened  that  these  laws, 
occasioned  by  cupidity,  assumed  its  character.  But  different 
circumstances  concurred  to  correct  the  disorder,  and  oblige 
governments  to  be  just. 

States,  in  fact,  being  weak  at  first,  and  having  foreign  ene- 
mies to  fear,  the  chiefs  found  it  their  interest  not  to  oppress 
their  subjects ;  for,  by  lessening  the  confidence  of  the  citizens 
in  their  government,  they  would  diminish  their  means  of 
resistance — they  would  facilitate  foreign  invasion,  and  by 
exercising  arbitrary  power,  have  endangered  their  very  ex- 
istence. 

In  the  interior,  the  firmness  of  the  people  repelled  tyranny  ; 
men  had  contracted  too  long  habits  of  independence  ;  they 
had  too  few  wants,  and  too  much  consciousness  of  their  own 
strength. 

States  being  of  a  moderate  size,  it  was  difficult  to  divide 
their  citizens  so  as  to  make  use  of  some  for  the  oppression  of 
others.  Their  communications  were  too  easy,  their  interest 
too  clear  and  simple  :  besides,  every  one  being  a  proprietor 
and  cultivator,  no  one  needed  to  sell  himself,  and  the  despot 
could  find  no  mercenaries. 

If,  then,  dissensions  arose,  they  were  between  family  and" 
family,  faction  and  faction,  and  they  interested  a  great  num- 
ber. The  troubles,  indeed,  were  warmer;  but  fears  from 
abroad  pacified  discord  at  home.  If  the  oppression  of  a  party 
prevailed,  the  earth  being  still  unoccupied,  and  man,  still  in 
a  state  of  simplicity,  finding  every  where  the  same  advan- 
tages, the  oppressed  party  emigrated,  and  carried  elsewhere 
their  independence. 

The  ancient  states  then  enjoyed  within  themselves  numer- 
ous means  of  prosperity  and  power.  Every  one  finding  his 
own  well-being  in  the  constitution  of  his  country,  took  a 
lively  interest  in  its  preservation.  If  a  stranger  attacked  it, 
having  to  defend  his  own  field,  his  own  house,  he  carried  into 
combat  all  the  passions  of  a  personal  quarrel ;  and,  devoted 
to  his  own  interests,  he  was  devoted  to  his  country. 

As  every  action  useful  to  the  public  attracted  its  esteem  and 


THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  31 

gratitude,  every  one  became  eager  to  be  useful ;  and  self-love 
multiplied  talents  and  civic  virtues. 

Every  citizen  contributing  equally  by  his  talents  and  per- 
son, armies  and  funds  were  inexhaustible,  and  nations 
displayed  formidable  masses  of  power. 

The  earth  being  free,  and  its  possession  secure  and  easy, 
every  one  was  a  proprietor ;  and  the  division  of  property 
preserved  morals,  and  rendered  luxury  impossible. 

Every  one  cultivating  for  himself,  culture  was  more  active, 
produce  more  abundant ;  and  individual  riches  became  pub- 
lic wealth. 

The  abundance  of  produce  rendering  subsistence  easy, 
population  was  rapid  and  numerous,  and  states  attained 
quickly  the  term  of  their  plenitude. 

Productions  increasing  beyond  consumption,  the  necessity 
of  commerce  arose ;  and  exchanges  took  place  between 
people  and  people ;  which  augmented  their  activity  and  re- 
ciprocal advantages. 

*  In  fine,  certain  countries,  at  certain  times,  uniting  the  ad- 
vantages of  good  government  with  a  position  on  the  route  of 
the  most  active  circulation,  they  became  emporiums  of  flour- 
ishing commerce  and  seats  of  powerful  domination.  And  on 
the  shores  of  the  Nile  and  Mediterranean,  of  the  Tygris  and 
Euphrates,  the  accumulated  riches  of  India  and  of  Europe 
raised  in  successive  splendor  a  hundred  different  cities. 

The  people,  growing  rich,  applied  their  superfluity  to 
works  of  common  and  public  use  ;  and  this  was  in  every 
state,  the  epoch  of  those  works  whose  grandeur  astonishes 
the  mind;  of  those  wells  of  Tyre,  of  those  dykes  of  the  Eu- 
phrates, of  those  subterranean  conduits  of  Media,*  of  those 

*  See  respecting  these  monuments  my  Travels  into  Syria,  vol.  ii.  p.  214. 

From  the  town  or  village  of  Samouat  the  course  of  the  Euphrates  is  accompa- 
nied with  a  double  bank,  which  descends  as  far  as  its  junction  with  the  Tygris, 
and  from  thence  to  the  sea,  being  a  length  of  about  a  hundred  leagues,  French 
measure.  The  height  of  these  artificial  banks  is  not  uniform,  but  increases  as 
you  advance  from  the  sea ;  it  may  be  estimated  at  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet. 
But  for  them,  the  inundation  of  the  river  would  bury  the  country  around,  which 
is  flat,  to  an  extent  of  twenty  or  twenty-five  leagues;  and  even  notwithstanding 
these  banks,  there  has  been  in  modern  times  an  overflow,  which  has  covered  the 
whole  triangle  formed  by  the  junction  of  this  river  to  the  Tygris,  being  a  space  of 
country  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  square  leagues.  By  the  stagnation  of  these 
waters  an  epidemical  disease  of  the  most  fatal  nature  was  occasioned.  It  follows 


32  THE  RUINS  OF   EMPIRES. 

fortresses  of  the  desert,  of  those  aqueducts  of  Palmyra,  of 
those  temples,  of  those  porticoes.  And  such  labors  might  be 
immense,  without  oppressing  the  nations  ;  because  they  were 
the  effect  of  an  equal  and  common  contribution  of  the  force 
of  individuals  animated  and  free. 

Thus  ancient  states  prospered,  because  their  social  institu- 
tions conformed  to  the  true  laws  of  nature  ;  and  because  men, 
enjoying  liberty  and  security  for  their  persons  and  their 
property,  might  display  all  the  extent  of  their  faculties, —  all 
the  energies  of  their  self-love. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

GENERAL  CAUSES   OF  THE   REVOLUTIONS   AND   RUIN   OF 
ANCIENT  STATES. 

/^~>UPIDITY    had    nevertheless    excited    among    men    a 

y ^    constant    and   universal    conflict,  which    incessantly 

prompting  individuals  and  societies  to  reciprocal  in- 
vasions, occasioned  successive  revolutions,  and  returning 
agitations. 

from  hence,  i.  That  all  the  flat  country  bordering  upon  these  rivers,  was  origin- 
ally a  marsh ;  2.  That  this  marsh  could  not  have  been  inhabited  previously  to 
the  construction  of  the  banks  in  question  ;  3.  That  these  banks  could  not-have  been 
the  work  but  of  a  population  prior  as  to  date  ;  and  the  elevation  of  Babylon, 
therefore,  must  have  been  posterior  to  that  of  Nineveh,  as  I  think  I  have  chrono- 
logically demonstrated  in  the  memoir  above  cited.  See  Encyclopedia,  vol.  xiii, 
of  Antiquities. 

The  modern  Aderbidjan,  which  was  a  part  of  Medea,  the  mountains  of  Kould- 
erstan,  and  those  of  Diarbekr,  abound  with  subterranean  canals,  by  means  of 
which  the  ancient  inhabitants  conveyed  water  to  their  parched  soil  in  order  to 
fertilize  it.  It  was  regarded  as  a  meritorious  act  and  a  religious  duty  prescribed 
by  Zoroaster,  who,  instead  of  preaching  celibacy,  mortifications,  and  other  pre- 
tended virtues  of  the  monkish  sort,  repeats  continually  in  the  passages  that  are 
preserved  respecting  him  in  the  Sad-der  and  the  Zend-avesta  : 

"That  the  action  most  pleasing  to  God  is  to  plough  and  cultivate  the  earth,  to 
water  it  with  running  streams,  to  multiply  vegetation  and  living  beings,  to  have 
numerous  flocks,  young  and  fruitful  virgins,  a  multitude  of  children,"  etc.,  etc. 

Among  the  aqueducts  of  Palmyra  it  appears  certain,  that,  besides  those  which 
conducted  water  from  the  neighboring  hills,  there  was  one  which  brought  it  even 
from  the  mountains  of  Syria.  It  is  to  be  traced  a  long  way  into  the  Desert 
where  it  escapes  our  search  by  going  under  ground. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  33 

And  first,  in  the  savage  and  barbarous  state  of  the  first  men, 
this  audacious  and  fierce  cupidity  produced  rapine,  violence, 
and  murder,  and  retarded  for  a  long  time  the  progress  of 
civilization. 

When  afterwards  societies  began  to  be  formed,  the  effect  of 
bad  habits,  communicated  to  laws  and  governments,  corrupted 
their  institutions  and  objects,  and  established  arbitrary  and 
factitious  rights,  which  depraved  the  ideas  of  justice,  and  the 
morality  of  the  people. 

Thus  one  man  being  stronger  than  another,  their  inequality 
— an  accident  of  nature — was  taken  for  her  law  ;  *  and  the 
strong  being  able  to  take  the  life  of  the  weak,  and  yet  sparing 
him,  arrogated  over  his  person  an  abusive  right  of  property  ; 
and  the  slavery  of  individuals  prepared  the  way  for  the 
slavery  of  nations. 

Because  the  head  of  a  family  could  be  absolute  in  his  house, 
he  made  his  own  affections  and  desires  the  rule  of  his  con- 
duct; he  gave  or  resumed  his  goods  without  equality,  without 
justice ;  and  paternal  despotism  laid  the  foundation  of  des- 
potism in  government.! 

*  Almost  all  the  ancient  philosophers  and  politicians  have  laid  it  down  as  a 
principle  that  men  are  born  unequal,  that  nature  his  created  some  to  be  free,  and 
others  to  be  slaves.  Expressions  of  this  kind  are  to  be  found  in  Aristotle,  and 
even  in  Plato,  called  the  divine,  doubtless  in  the  same  sense  as  the  mythological 
reveries  which  he  promulgated.  With  all  the  people  of  antiquity,  the  Gauls, 
the  Romans,  the  Athenians,  the  right  of  the  strongest  was  the  right  of  nations ; 
and  from  the  same  principle  are  derived  all  .the  political  disorders  and  public 
national  crimes  that  at  present  exist. 

t  Upon  this  single  expression  it  would  be  easy  to  write  a  long  and  important 
chapter.  We  might  prove  in  it,  beyond  contradiction,  that  all  the  abuses  of 
national  governments,  have  sprung  from  those  of  domestic  government,  from 
that  government  called  patriarchal,  which  superficial  minds  have  extolled  with- 
out having  analyzed  it.  Numberless  facts  demonstrate,  that  with  every  infant 
people,  in  every  savage  and  barbarous  state,  the  father,  the  chief  of  the  family, 
is  a  despot,  and  a  cruel  and  insolent  despot.  The  wife  is  his  slave,  the  children 
his  servants.  This  king  sleeps  or  smokes  his  pipe,  while  his  wife  and  daughters 
perform  all  the  drudgery  of  the  house,  and  even  that  of  tillage  and  cultivation, 
as  far  as  occupations  of  this  nature  are  practised  in  such  societies ;  and  no  sooner 
have  the  boys  acquired  strength  then  they  are  allowed  to  beat  the  females,  and 
make  them  serve  and  wait  upon  them  as  they  do  upon  their  fathers.  Similar  to 
this  is  the  state  of  our  own  uncivilized  peasants.  In  proportion  as  civilization 
spreads,  the  manners  become  milder,  and  the  condition  of  the  women  improves, 
till,  by  a  contrary  excess,  they  arrive  at  dominion,  and  then  a  nation  becomes 
effeminate  and  corrupt.  It  is  remarkable  that  parental  authority  is  great  in  pro- 
portion as  the  government  is  despotic.  China,  India,  and  Turkey  are  striking 


34  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

In  societies  formed  on  such  foundations,  when  time  and 
labor  had  developed  riches,  cupidity  restrained  by  the  laws, 
became  more  artful,  but  not  less  active.  Under  the  mask  of 
union  and  civil  peace,  it  fomented  in  the  bosom  of  every  state 
an  intestine  war,  in  which  the  citizens,  divided  into  contend- 
ing corps  of  orders,  classes,  families,  unremittingly  struggled 
to  appropriate  to  themselves,  under  the  name  of  supreme 
power,  the  ability  to  plunder  every  thing,  and  render  every 
thing  subservient  to  the  dictates  of  their  passions ;  and  this 
spirit  of  encroachment,  disguised  under  all  possible  forms, 
but  always  the  same  in  its  object  and  motives,  has  never 
ceased  to  torment  the  nations. 

Sometimes,  opposing  itself  to  all  social  compact,  or  break- 
ing that  which  already  existed,  it  committed  the  inhabitants 
of  a  country  to  the  tumultuous  shock  of  all  their  discords; 
and  states  thus  dissolved,  and  reduced  to  the  condition  of  an- 
archy, were  tormented  by  the  passions  of  all  their  members, 
-t  Sometimes  a  nation,  jealous  of  its  liberty,  having  appointed 
agents  to  administer  its  government,  these  agents  appropria- 
ted the  powers  of  which  they  had  only  the  guardianship :  they 
employed  the  public  treasures  in  corrupting  elections,  gaining 
.r*<jV*<"\  partisans,  in  dividing  the  people  among  themselves.  By 
these  means,  from  being  temporary  they  became  perpetual ; 
from  elective,  hereditary ;  and  the  state,  agitated  by  the 
intrigues  of  the  ambitious,  by  largesses  from  the  rich  and 
factious,  by  the  venality  of  the  poor  and  idle,  by  the  influence 
of  orators,  by  the  boldness  of  the  \vicked,  and  the  weakness 
of  the  virtuous,  was  convulsed  with  all  the  inconveniences 
of  democracy.  » 

The  chiefs  of  some  countries,  equal  in  strength  and  mutu- 
ally fearing  each  other,  formed  impious  pacts,  nefarious 
associations ;  and,  apportioning  among  themselves  all  power, 
rank,  and  honor,  unjustly  arrogated  privileges  and  immuni- 
ties; erected  themselves  into  separate  orders  and  distinct 
classes ;  reduced  the  people  to  their  control ;  and,  under  the 

examples  of  this.  One  would  suppose  that  tyrants  gave  themselve  accomplices 
and  interested  subaltern  despots  to  maintain  their  authority.  In  opposition  to 
this  the  Romans  will  be  cited,  but  it  remains  to  be  proved  that  the  Romans 
were  men  truly  free ;  and  their  quick  passage  from  their  republican  despotism  to 
their  abject  servility  under  the  emperors,  gives  room  at  least  for  considerable 
doubt  as  to  that  freedom.  • 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  35 

name  of  aristocracy,  the  state  was  tormented  by  the  passions 
of  the  wealthy  and  the  great. 

Sacred  impostors,  in  other  countries,  tending  by  other 
means  to  the  same  object,  abused  the  credulity  of  the  igno- 
rant. In  the  gloom  of  their  temples,  behind  the  curtain  of  the 
altar,  they  made  their  gods  act  and  speak ;  gave  forth  oracles, 
worked  miracles,  ordered  sacrifices,  levied  offerings,  pre- 
scribed endowments  ;  and,  under  the  names  of  theocracy  and 
of  religion,  the  state  became  tormented  by  the  passions  ofthe 
priests. 

Sometimes  a  nation,  weary  of  its  dissensions  or  of  its 
tyrants,  to  lessen  the  sources  of  evil,  submitted  to  a  single 
master ;  but  if  it  limited  his  powers,  his  sole  aim  was  to 
enlarge  them ;  if  it  left  them  indefinite,  he  abused  the  trust 
confided  to  him ;  and,  under  the  name  of  monarchy,  the  state 
was  tormented  by  the  passions  of  kings  and  princes. 

Then  the  factions,  availing  themselves  of  the  general  dis- 
content, flattered  the  people  with  the  hope  of  a  better  master ; 
dealt  out  gifts  and  promises,  deposed  the  despot  to  take  his 
place  ;  and  their  contests  for  the  succession,  or  its  partition, 
tormented  the  state  with  the  disorders  and  devastations  of 
civil  war. 

In  fine,  among  these  rivals,  one  more  adroit,  or  more  for- 
tunate, gained  the  ascendency,  and  concentrated  all  power 
within  himself.  By  a  strange  phenomenon,  a  single  individual  '/ '« 
mastered  millions  of  his  equals,  against  their  will  and  without 
their  consent ;  and  the  art  of  tyranny  sprung  also  from 
cupidity. 

In  fact,  observing  the  spirit  of  egotism  which  incessantly 
divides  mankind,  the  ambitious  man  fomented  it  with  dexter- 
ity, flattered  the  vanity  of  one,  excited  the  jealousy  of  another, 
favored  the  avarice  of  this,  inflamed  the  resentment  of  that, 
and  irritated  the  passions  of  all ;  then,  placing  in  opposition 
their  interests  and  prejudices,  he  sowed  divisions  and  hatreds, 
promised  to  the  poor  the  spoils  of  the  rich,  to  the  rich  the 
subjection  of  the  poor  ;  threatened  one  man  by  another,  this 
class  by  that  ;  and  insulating  all  by  distrust,  created  his 
strength  out  of  their  weakness,  and  imposed  the  yoke  of 
opinion,  which  they  mutually  riveted  on  each  other.  With  the 
army  he  levied  contributions,  and  with  contributions  he  dis- 


36  THE  RUINS  OF   EMPIRES. 

posed  of  the  army :  dealing  out  wealth  and  office  on  these 
principles,  he  enchained  a  whole  people  in  indissoluble 
bonds,  and  they  languished  under  the  slow  consumption  of 
despotism. 

Thus  the  same  principle,  varying  its  action  under  every 
possible  form,  w^s  forever  attenuating  the  consistence  of 
states,  and  an  eternal  circle  of  vicissitudes  flowed  from  an 
eternal  circle  of  passions. 

And  this  spirit  of  egotism  and  usurpation  produced  two 
effects  equally  operative  and  fatal :  the  one  a  division  and 
subdivision  of  societies  into  their  smallest  fractions,  inducing 
a  debility  which  facilitated  their  dissolution  ;  the  other,  a  pre- 
serving tendency  to  concentrate  power  in  a  single  hand,* 
which,  engulfing  successively  societies  and  states,  was  fatal 
to  their  peace  and  social  existence. 

Thus,  as  in  a  state,  a  party  absorbed  the  nation,  a  family  the 
party,  and  an  individual  the  family ;  so  a  movement  of  ab- 
sorption took  place  between  state  and  state,  and  exhibited  on 
a  larger  scale  in  the  political  order,  all  the  particular  evils  of 
the  civil  order.  Thus  a  state  having  subdued  a  state,  held  it 
in  subjection  in  the  form  of  a  province ;  and  two  provinces 
being  joined  together  formed  a  kingdom ;  two  kingdoms 
being  united  by  conquest,  gave  birth  to  empires  of  gigantic 
size ;  and  in  this  conglomeration,  the  internal  strength  of 
states,  instead  of  increasing,  diminished ;  and  the  condition  of 
the  people,  instead  of  ameliorating,  became  daily  more  abject 
and  wretched,  for  causes  derived  from  the  nature  of  things. 

Because,  in  proportion  as  states  increased  in  extent,  their 

administration    becoming    more    difficult  and  complicated, 

greater  energies   of  power  were   necessary  to   move  such 

masses  ;  and  there  was  no  longer  any  proportion  between  the 

-duties  of  sovereigns  and  their  ability  to  perform  their  duties  : 

Because  despots,  feeling  their  weakness,  feared  whatever 

*  It  is  remarkable  that  this  has  in  all  instances  been  the  constant  progress  of 
societies;  beginning  with  a  state  of  anarchy  or  democracy,  that  is,  with  a  great 
division  of  power  they  have  passed  to  aristocracy,  and  from  aristocracy  to 
monarchy.  Does  it  not  hence  follow  that  those  who  constitute  states  under  the 
democratic  form,  destine  them  to  undergo  all  the  intervening  troubles  between 
that  and  monarchy  ;  but  it  should  at  the  same  time  be  proved  that  social  experi- 
ence is  already  exhausted  for  the  human  race,  and  that  this  spontaneous  move- 
ment is  not  solely  the  effect  of  ignorance. 


THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  37 

might  develop  the  strength  of  nations,  and  studied  only  how 
to  enfeeble  them : 

Because  nations,  divided  by  the  prejudices  of  ignorance 
and  hatred,  seconded  the  wickedness  of  their  governments ; 
and  availing  themselves  reciprocally  of  subordinate  agents, 
aggravated  their  mutual  slavery  : 

Because,  the  balance  between  states  being  destroyed,  the 
strong  more  easily  oppressed  the  weak. 

Finally,  because  in  proportion  as  states  were  concentrated, 
the  people,  despoiled  of  their  laws,  of  their  usages,  and  of  the 
government  of  their  choice,  lost  that  spirit  of  personal  identi- 
fication with  their  government,  which  had  caused  their  energy. 

And  despots,  considering  empires  as  their  private  domains, 
and  the  people  as  their  property,  gave  themselves  up  to  dep- 
redations, and  to  all  the  licentiousness  of  the  most  arbitrary 
authority. 

And  all  the  strength  and  wealth  of  nations  were  diverted 
to  private  expense  and  personal  caprice  ;  and  kings,  fatigued 
with  gratification,  abandoned  themselves  to  all  the  extrava- 
gancies of  factitious  and  depraved  taste.*  They  must  have 
gardens  mounted  on  arcades,  rivers  raised  over  mountains, 
fertile  fields  converted  into  haunts  for  wild  beasts;  lakes 
scooped  in  dry  lands,  rocks  erected  in  lakes,  palaces  built  of 
marble  and  porphyry,  furniture  of  gold  and  diamonds.  Under 
the  cloak  of  religion,  their  pride  founded  temples,  endowed 
indolent  priests,  built,  for  vain  skeletons,  extravagant  tombs, 
mausoleums  and  pyramids ;  f  millions  of  hands  were  em- 

*  It  is  equally  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  conduct  and  manners  of  princes  and 
kings  of  every  country  and  every  age,  are  found  to  be  precisely  the  same  at 
similar  periods,  whether  of  the  formation  or  dissolution  of  empires.  History 
every  where  presents  the  same  pictures  of  luxury  and  folly ;  of  parks,  gardens, 
lakes,  rocks,  palaces,  furniture,  excess  of  the  table,  wine,  women,  concluding 
with  brutality. 

The  absurd  rock  in  the  garden  of  Versailles  has  alone  cost  three  millions.  I 
have  sometimes  calculated  what  might  have  been  done  with  the  expense  of  the 
three  pyramids  of  Gizah,  and  I  have  found  that  it  would  easily  have  constructed, 
from  the  Red  Sea  to  Alexandria,  a  canal  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide  and 
thirty  deep,  completely  covered  in  with  cut  stones  and  a  parapet,  together  with 
a  fortified  and  commercial  town,  consisting  of  four  hundred  houses,  furnished 
with  cisterns.  What  a  difference  in  point  of  utility  between  such  a  canal  and 
these  pyramids  ! 

•  t  The  learned  Dupuis  could  not  be  persuaded  that  the  pyramids  were  tombs  ; 
but  besides  the  positive  testimony  of  historians,  read  what  Diodorus  says  of  the 


38  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

ployed  in  sterile  labors  ;  and  the  luxury  of  princes,  imitated 
by  their  parasites,  and  transmitted  from  grade  to  grade  to  the 
lowest  ranks,  became  a  general  source  of  corruption  and  im- 
poverishment. 

If  And  in  the  insatiable  thirst  of  enjoyment,  the  ordinary 
revenues  no  longer  sufficing,  they  were  augmented  ;  the  cul- 
tivator, seeing  his  labors  increase  without  compensation,  lost 
all  courage  ;  the  merchant,  despoiled,  was  disgusted  with 
industry ;  the  multitude,  condemned  to  perpetual  poverty, 
restrained  their  labor  to  simple  necessaries  ;  and  all  pro- 
ductive industry  vanished. 

•  (f     The  surcharge  of  taxes  rendering  lands  a  burdensome  pos- 

i  session,  the  poor  proprietor  abandoned  his  field,  or  sold  it  to 
the  powerful ;  and  fortune  became  concentrated  in  a  few 
hands.  All  the  laws  and  institutions  favoring  this  accumula- 

I  tion,  the  nation  became  divided  into  a  group  of  wealthy 
drones,  and  a  multitude  of  mercenary  poor  ;  the  people  were 
degraded  with  indigence,  the  great  with  satiety,  and  the 
number  of  those  interested  in  the  preservation  of  the  state 
decreasing,  its  strength  and  existence  became  proportionally 
,  precarious. 

On  the  other  hand,  emulation  finding  no  object,  science  no 
encouragement,  the  mind  sunk  into  profound  ignorance. 

The  administration  bj;mg__secret  _and  mysterious,  there 
existed  no  means  of  reform,  or  amelioration.  The  chiefs 
governing  by  force  or  fraud,  the  people  viewed  them  as  a 
faction  of  public  enemies ;  and  all  harmony  ceased  between 
the  governors  and  governed. 

religious  and  superstitious  importance  every  Egyptian  attached  to  building  his 
dwelling  eternal,  b.  i. 

During  twenty  years,  says  Herodotus,  a  hundred  thousand  men  labored  every 
day  to  build  the  pyramid  of  the  Egyptian  Cheops.  Supposing  only  three  hun- 
dred days  a  year,  on  account  of  the  sabbath,  there  will  be  30  millions  of  days'  work 
in  a  year,  a«d  600  millions  in  twenty  years ;  at  15  sous  a  day,  this  makes  450 
millions  of  francs  lost,  without  any  further  benefit.  With  this  sum,  if  the  king 
had  shut  the  isthmus  of  Suez  by  a  strong  wall,  like  that  of  China,  the  destinies 
of  Egypt  might  have  been  entirely  changed.  Foreign  invasions  would  have  been 
prevented,  and  the  Arabs  of  the  desert  would  neither  have  conquered  nor 
harassed  that  country.  Sterile  labors !  how  many  millions  lost  in  putting  one 
stone  upon  another,  under  the  forms  of  temples  and  churches  !  Alchymists  convert 
stones  into  gold  ;  but  architects  change  gold  into  stone.  Woe  to  the  kings  (as  well 
as  subjects)  who  trust  their  purse  to  these  two  classes  of  empirics  ! 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  39 

And  these  vices  having  enervated  the  states  of  the  wealthy 
part  of  Asia,  the  vagrant  and  indigent  people  of  the  adjacent 
deserts  and  mountains  coveted  the  enjoyments  of  the  fertile 
plains  ;  and,  urged  by  a  cupidity  common  to  all,  attacked  the 
polished  empires,  and  overturned  the  thrones  of  their  despots. 
These  revolutions  were  rapid  and  easy ;  because  the  policy 
of  tyrants  had  enfeebled  the  subjects,  razed  the  fortresses, 
destroyed  the  warriors  ;  and  because  the  oppressed  subjects 
remained  without  personal  interest,  and  the  mercenary 
soldiers  without  courage. 

And  hordes  of  barbarians  having  reduced  entire  nations  to 
slavery,  the  empires,  formed  of  conquerors  and  conquered, 
united  in  their  bosom  two  classes  essentially  opposite  and 
hostile.  All  the  principles  of  society  were  dissolved :  there 
was  no  longer  any  common  interest,  no  longer  any  public 
spirit ;  and  there  arose  a  distinction  of  casts  and  races,  which 
reduced  to  a  regular  system  the  maintenance  of  disorder  ; 
and  he  who  was  born  of  this  or  that  blood,  was  born  a  slave 
or  a  tyrant — property  or  proprietor. 

The  oppressors  being  less  numerous  than  the  oppressed,  it 
was  necessary  to  perfect  the  science  of  oppression,  in  order 
to  support  this  false  equilibrium.  The  art  of  governing  be- 
came the  art  of  subjecting  the  many  to  the  few.  To  enforce 
an  obedience  so  contrary  to  instinct,  the  severest  punish- 
ments were  established,  and  the  cruelty  of  the  laws  rendered 
manners  atrocious.  The  distinction  of  persons  establishing 
in  the  state  two  codes,  two  orders  of  criminal  justice,  two  sets 
of  laws,  the  people,  placed  between  the  propensities  of  the 
heart  and  the  oath  uttered  from  the  mouth,  had  two  con- 
sciences in  contradiction  with  each  other ;  and  the  ideas  of 
justice  and  injustice  had  no  longer  any  foundation  in  the  un- 
derstanding. 

Under  such  a  system,  the  people  fell  into  dejection  and 
despair ;  and  the  accidents  of  nature  were  added  to  the  other 
evils  which  assailed  them.  Prostrated  by  so  many  calamities, 
they  attributed  their  causes  to  superior  and  hidden  powers  ; 
and,  because  they  had  tyrants  on  earth,  they  fancied  others 
in  heaven  ;  and  superstition  aggravated  the  misfortunes  of 
nations. 

Fatal  doctrines  and  gloomy  and  misanthropic  systems  of 


4O  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

religion  arose,  which  painted  their  gods,  like  their  despots, 
wicked  and  envious.  To  appease  them,  man  offered  up  the 
sacrifice  of  all  his  enjoyments.  He  environed  himself  in  pri- 
vations, and  reversed  the  order  of  nature.  Conceiving  his 
pleasures  to  be  crimes,  his  sufferings  expiations,  he  endeavor- 
ed to  love  pain,  and  to  abjure  the  love  of  self.  He  persecuted 
his  senses,  hated  his  life  ;  and  a  self-denying  and  anti-social 
morality  plunged  nations  into  the  apathy  of  death. 

But  provident  nature  having  endowed  the  heart  of  man 
with  hope  inexhaustible,  when  his  desires  of  happiness  were 
baffled  on  this  earth,  he  pursued  it  into  another  world.  By  a 
sweet  illusion  he  created  for  himself  another  country — an 
asylum  where,  far  from  tyrants,  he  should  recover  the  rights 
of  nature,  and  thence  resulted  new  disorders.  Smitten  with  an 
imaginary  world,  man  despised  that  of  nature.  For  chimeri- 
cal hopes,  he  neglected  realities.  His  life  began  to  appear  a 
troublesome  journey — a  painful  dream;  his  body  a  prison, 
the  obstacle  to  his  felicity ;  and  the  earth,  a  place  of  exile  and 
of  pilgrimage,  not  worthy  of  culture.  Then  a  holy  indolence 
spread  over  the  political  world ;  the  fields  were  deserted, 
empires  depopulated,  monuments  neglected  and  deserts  mul- 
tiplied ;  ignorance,  superstition  and  fanaticism,  combining 
their  operations,  overwhelmed  the  earth  with  devastation  and 
ruin.  . 

Thus  agitated  by  their  own  passions,  men,  whether  collec- 
tively or  individually  taken,  always  greedy  and  improvident, 
passing  from  slavery  to  tyranny,  from  pride  to  baseness,  from 
presumption  to  despondency,  have  made  themselves  the  per- 
petual instruments  of  their  own  misfortunes. 

These,  then,  are  the  principles,  simple  and  natural,  which 
regulated  the  destiny  of  ancient  states.  By  this  regular  and 
connected  series  of  causes  and  effects,  they  rose  or  fell,  in 
proportion  as  the  physical  laws  of  the  human  heart  were  re- 
spected or  violated ;  and  in  the  course  of  their  successive 
changes,  a  hundred  different  nations,  a  hundred  different  em- 
pires, by  turns  humbled,  elevated,  conquered,  overthrown, 
have  repeated  for  the  earth  their  instructive  lessons.  Yet 
these  lessons  were  lost  for  the  generations  which  have  follow- 
ed !  The  disorders  in  times  past  have  reappeared  in  the 
present  age !  The  chiefs  of  the  nations  have  continued  to 


THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES.  41 

walk  in  the  paths  of  falsehood  and  tyranny  ! — the  people  to 
wander  in  the  darkness  of  superstition  and  ignorance  ! 

Since  then,  continued  the  Genius,  with  renewed  energy, 
since  the  experience  of  past  ages  is  lost  for  the  living — since 
the  errors  of  progenitors  have  not  instructed  their  descend- 
ants, the  ancient  examples  are  about  to  reappear ;  the  earth 
will  see  renewed  the  tremendous  scenes  it  has  forgotten. 
New  revolutions  will  agitate  nations  and  empires  ;  powerful 
thrones  will  again  be  overturned,  and  terrible  catastrophes 
will  again  teach  mankind  that  the  laws  of  nature  and  the 
precepts  of  wisdom  and  truth  cannot  be  infringed  with 
impunity. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

LESSONS   OF  TIMES   PAST   REPEATED   ON   THE   PRESENT. 

THUS  spoke  the  Genius.  Struck  with  the  justice  and  co- 
herence of  his  discourse,  assailed  with  a  crowd  of  ideas, 
repugnant  to  my  habits  yet  convincing  to  my  reason,  I 
remained  absorbed  in  profound  silence.  At  length,  while 
with  serious  and  pensive  mien,  I  kept  my  eyes  fixed  on  Asia, 
suddenly  in  the  north,  on  the  shores  of  the  Black  sea,  and  in 
the  fields  of  the  Crimea,  clouds  of  smoke  and  flame  attracted 
my  attention.  They  appeared  to  rise  at  the  same  time  from  all 
parts  of  the  peninsula ;  and  passing  by  the  isthmus  into  the 
continent,  they  ran,  as  if  driven  by  a  westerly  wind,  along  the 
oozy  lake  of  Azof,  and  disappeared  in  the  grassy  plains  of 
Couban  ;  and  following  more  attentively  the  course  of  these 
clouds,  I  observed  that  they  were  preceded  or  followed  by 
swarms  of  moving  creatures,  which,  like  ants  or  grasshoppers 
disturbed  by  the  foot  of  a  passenger,  agitated  themselves  with 
vivacity.  Sometimes  these  swarms  appeared  to  advance  and 
rush  against  each  other ;  and  numbers,  after  the  concussion, 
remained  motionless.  While  disquieted  at  this  spectacle,  I 
strained  my  sight  to  distinguish  the  objects. 
Do  you  see,  said  the  Genius,  those  flames  which  spread 


42  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

over  the  earth,  and  do  you  comprehend  their  causes  and 
effects  ? 

Oh !  Genius,  I  answered,  I  see  those  columns  of  flame  and 
smoke,  and  something  like  insects,  accompanying  them  ;  but, 
when  I  can  scarcely  discern  the  great  masses  of  cities  and 
monuments,  how  should  I  discover,  such  little  creatures  ? 
I  can  just  perceive  that  these  insects  mimic  battle,  for  they 
advance,  retreat,  attack  and  pursue. 

It  is  no  mimicry,  said  the  Genius,  these  are  real  battles. 

And  what,  said  I,  are  those  mad  animalculae,  which  destroy 
each  other  ?  Beings  of  a  day !  will  they  not  perish  soon 
enough  ? 

Then  the  Genius,  touching  my  sight  and  hearing,  again 
directed  my  eyes  towards  the  same  object.  Look,  said  he, 
and  listen! 

Ah !  wretches,  cried  I,  oppressed  with  grief,  these  columns 
of  flame !  these  insects  !  oh !  Genius,  they  are  men.  These  are 
the  ravages  of  war  !  These  torrents  of  flame  rise  from  towns 
and  villages !  I  see  the  squadrons  who  kindle  them,  and  who, 
sword  in  hand  overrun  the  country :  they  drive  before  them 
crowds  of  old  men,  women,  and  children,  fugitive  and  deso- 
late :  I  perceive  other  horsemen,  who  with  shouldered  lances, 
accompany  and  guide  them.  I  even  recognize  them  to  be 
Tartars  by  their  led  horses,*  their  kalpacks,  and  tufts  of  hair  : 
and,  doubtless,  they  who  pursue,  in  triangular  hats  and  green 
uniforms,  are  Muscovites.  Ah  !  I  now  comprehend,  a  war  is 
kindled  between  the  empire  of  the  Czars  and  that  of  the 
Sultans. 

Not  yet,  replied  the  Genius ;  this  is  only  a  preliminary. 
These  Tartars  have  been,  and  might  still  be  troublesome 
neighbors.  The  Muscovites  are  driving  them  off,  finding  their 
country  would  be  a  convenient  extension  of  their  own  limits  ; 
and  as  a  prelude  to  another  revolution,  the  throne  of  the 
Guerais  is  destroyed. 

•  A  Tartar  horseman  has  always  two  horses,  of  which  he  leads  one  in  hand. 
The  Kalpeck  is  a  bonnet  made  of  the  skin  of  a  sheep  or  other  animal.  The  part 
of  the  head  covered  by  this  bonnet  is  shaved,  with  the  exception  of  a  tuft,  about 
the  size  of  a  crown  piece,  and  which  is  suffered  to  grow  to  the  length  of  seven  or 
eight  inches,  precisely  where  our  priests  place  their  tonsure.  It  is  by  this  tuft  of 
hair,  worn  by  the  majority  of  Mussulmen,  that  the  angel  of  the  tomb  is  to  take 
the  elect  and  carry  them  into  paradise. 


THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  43 

And  in  fact,  I  saw  the  Russian  standards  floating  over  the 
Crimea :  and  soon  after  their  flag  waving  on  the  Euxine. 

Meanwhile,  at  the  cry  of  the  flying  Tartars,  the  Mussulman 
empire  was  in  commotion.  They  are  driving  off  our  brethren, 
cried  the  children  of  Mahomet :  the  people  of  the  prophet 
are  outraged !  infidels  occupy  a  consecrated  land  and  profane 
the  temples  of  Islamism.*  Let  us  arm  ;  let  us  rush  to  combat, 
to  avenge  the  glory  of  God  and  our  own  cause. 

And  a  general  movement  of  war  took  place  in  both  em- 
pires. In  every  part  armed  men  assembled.  Provisions, 
stores,  and  all  the  murderous  apparatus  of  battle  were  dis- 
played. The  temples  of  both  nations,  besieged  by  an  immense 
multitude,  presented  a  spectacle  which  fixed  all  my  attention. 

On  one  side,  the  Mussulmen  gathered  before  their  mosques, 
washed  their  hands  and  feet,  pared  their  nails,  and  combed 
their  beards ;  then  spreading  carpets  upon  the  ground,  and 
turning  towards  the  south,  with  their  arms  sometimes  crossed 
and  sometimes  extended,  they  made  genuflexions  and  pros- 
trations, and  recollecting  the  disasters  of  the  late  war,  they 
exclaimed : 

God  of  mercy  and  clemency  !  hast  thou  then  abandoned  thy 
faithful  people  ?  Thou  who  hast  promised  to  thy  Prophet 
dominion  over  nations,  and  stamped  his  religion  by  so  many 
triumphs,  dost  thou  deliver  thy  true  believers  to  the  swords 
of  infidels  ? 

And  the  Imans  and  the  Santons  said  to  the  people : 

It  is  in  chastisement  of  your  sins.  You  eat  pork ;  you 
drink  wine ;  you  touch  unclean  things.  God  hath  punished 
you.  Do  penance  therefore  ;  purify ;  repeat  the  profession  of 
faith  ;  f  fast  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  sun  ;  give  the  tenth 
of  your  goods  to  the  mosques  ;  go  to  Mecca  ;  and  God  will 
render  you  victorious. 

And  the  people,  recovering  courage,  uttered  loud  cries : 

There  is  but  one  God,  said  they  transported  with  fury,  and 
Mahomet  is  his  prophet !  Accursed  be  he  who  believeth  not ! 

*  It  is  not  in  the  power  of  the  Sultan  to  cede  to  a  foreign  power  a  province  in- 
habited by  true  believers.  The  people,  instigated  by  the  lawyers,  would  not  fail 
to  revolt.  This  is  one  reason  which  has  led  those  who  know  the  Turks,  to  regard 
as  chimerical  the  ceding  of  Candia,  Cyprus,  and  Egypt,  projected  by  certain 
European  potentates. 

t  There  is  but  one  God,  and  Mahomet  is  his  prophet. 


44  THE   RUINS   OP   EMPIRES. 

God  of  goodness,  grant  us  to  exterminate  these  Christians; 
it  is  for  thy  glory  we  right,  and  our  death  is  a  martyrdom  for 
thy  name.  And  then,  offering  victims,  they  prepared  for 
battle. 

On  the   other  side,  the   Russians,  kneeling,  said : 

We  render  thanks  to  God,  and  celebrate  his  power.  He 
hath  strengthened  our  arm  to  humble  his  enemies.  Hear  our 
prayers,  thou  God  of  mercy !  To  please  thee,  we  will  pass 
three  days  without  eating  either  meat  or  eggs.  Grant  us  to 
extirpate  these  impious  Mahometans,  and  to  overturn  their 
empire.  To  thee  we  will  consecrate  the  tenth  of  our  spoil ;  to 
thee  we  will  raise  new  temples. 

And  the  priests  filled  the  churches  with  clouds  of  smoke, 
and  said  to  the  people : 

We  pray  for  you,  God  accepteth  our  incense,  and  blesseth 
your  arms.  Continue  to  fast  and  to  fight ;  confess  to  us  your 
secret  sins  ;  give  your  wealth  to  the  church ;  we  will  absolve 
you  from  your  crimes,  and  you  shall  die  in  a  state  of  grace. 

And  they  sprinkled  water  upon  the  people,  dealt  out  to 
them,  as  amulets  and  charms,  small  relics  of  the  dead,  and 
the  people  breathed  war  and  combat. 

Struck  with  this  contrast  of  the  same  passions,  and  grieving 
for  their  fatal  consequences,  I  was  considering  the  difficulty 
with  which  the  common  judge  could  yield  to  prayers  so  con- 
tradictory ;  when  the  Genius,  glowing  with  anger,  spoke  with 
vehemence : 

What  accents  of  madness  strike  my  ear?  What  blind 
and  perverse  delirium  disorders  the  spirits  of  the  nations  ? 
Sacrilegious  prayers  rise  not  from  the  earth  !  and  you,  oh 
Heavens,  reject  their  homicidal  vows  and  impious  thanks- 
givings !  Deluded  mortals  !  is  it  thus  you  revere  the  Divinity? 
Say  then ;  how  should  he,  whom  you  style  your  common 
father,  receive  the  homage  of  his  children  murdering  one 
another?  Ye  victors!  with  what  eye  should  he  view  your 
hands  reeking  in  the  blood  he  hath  created  ?  And,  what  do 
you  expect,  ohuvanquished,  from  useless  groans?  Hath  God 
the  heart  of  a  mortal,  with  passions  ever  changing  ?  Is  he, 
like  you,  agitated  with  vengeance  or  compassion,  with  wrath 
or  repentance  ?  What  base  conception  of  the  most  sublime 
of  beings!  According  to  them,  it  would  seem,  that  God 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  45 

whimsical  and  capricious,  is  angered  or  appeased  as  a  man  : 
that  he  loves  and  hates  alternately ;  that  he  punishes  or 
favors  ;  that,  weak  or  wicked,  he  broods  over  his  hatred ;  that, 
contradictory  or  perfidious,  he  lays  snares  to  entrap ;  that  he 
punishes  the  evils  he  permits ;  that  he  foresees  but  hinders 
not  crimes;  that,  like  a  corrupt  judge,  he  is  bribed  by  offer- 
ings; like  an  ignorant  despot,  he  makes  laws  and  revokes 
them ;  that,  like  a  savage  tyrant,  he  grants  or  resumes  favors 
without  reason,  and  can  only  be  appeased  by  servility.  Ah  ! 
now  I  know  the  lying  spirit  of  man !  Contemplating  the  pic- 
ture which  he  hath  drawn  of  the  Divinity  :  No,  said  I,  it  is  not 
God  who  hath  made  man  after  the  image  of  God ;  but  man 
hath  made  God  after  the  image  of  man ;  he  hath  given  him 
his  own  mind,  clothed  him  with  his  own  propensities; 
ascribed  to  him  his  own  judgments.  And  when  in  this 
medley  he  finds  the  contradiction  of  his  own  principles,  with 
hypocritical  humility,  he  imputes  weakness  to  his  reason,  and 
names  the  absurdities  of  his  own  mind  the  mysteries  of  God. 

He  hath  said,  God  is  immutable,  yet  he  offers  prayers  to 
change  him ;  he  hath  pronounced  him  incomprehensible,  yet 
he  interprets  him  without  ceasing. 

Imposters  have  arisen  on  the  earth  who  have  called  them- 
selves the  confidants  of  God ;  and,  erecting  themselves  into 
teachers  of  the  people,  have  opened  the  ways  of  falsehood 
and  iniquity ;  they  have  ascribed  merit  to  practices  indifferent 
or  ridiculous  ;  they  have  supposed  a  virtue  in  certain  postures, 
in  pronouncing  certain  words,  articulating  certain  names; 
they  have  transformed  into  a  crime  the  eating  of  certain 
meats,  the  drinking  of  certain  liquors,  on  one  day  rather  than 
another.  The  Jew  would  rather  die  than  labor  on  the 
sabbath;  the  Persian  would  endure  suffocation,  before  he 
would  blow  the  fire  with  his  breath ;  the  Indian  places  su- 
preme perfection  in  besmearing  himself  with  cow-dung,  and 
pronouncing  mysteriously  the  word  Aum ;  *  the  Mussulman 

*  This  word  is,  in  the  religion  of  the  Hindoos,  a  sacred  emblem  of  the  Divinity. 
It  is  only  to  be  pronounced  in  secret,  without  being  heard  by  any  one.  It  is 
formed  of  three  letters,  of  which  the  first,  a,  signifies  the  principal  of  all,  the 
creator,  Bratna;  the  second,  u,  the  conservator,  Vichenou  ;  and  the  last,  i»,  the 
destroyer,  who  puts  an  end  to  all,  Chiven.  It  is  pronounced  like  the  monosylla- 
ble 6m,  and  expresses  the  unity  of  those  three  Gods.  The  idea  is  precisely  that 
of  the  Alpha  and  Omega  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament. 


46  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

believes  he  has  expiated  everything  in  washing  his  head  and 
arms;  and  disputes,  sword  in  hand,  whether  the  ablution 
should  commence  at  the  elbow,  or  finger  ends ;  *  the  Christian 
would  think  himself  damned,  if  he  ate  flesh  instead  of  milk  or 
butter.  Oh  sublime  doctrines  !  Doctrines  truly  from  heaven ! 
Oh  perfect  morals,  and  worthy  of  martyrdom  or  the  aposto- 
late !  I  will  cross  the  seas  to  teach  these  admirable  laws  to 
the  savage  people  —  to  distant  nations ;  I  will  say  unto  them : 
Children  of  nature,  how  long  will  you  walk  in  the  paths 
of  ignorance  ?  how  long  will  you  mistake  the  true  principles 
of  morality  and  religion  ?  Come  and  learn  its  lessons 
from  nations  truly  pious  and  learned,  in  civilized  countries. 
They  will  inform  you  how,  to  gratify  God,  you  must  in  cer- 
tain months  of  the  year,  languish  the  whole  day  with  hunger 
and  thirst ;  how  you  may  shed  your  neighbor's  blood,  and 
purify  yourself  from  it  by  professions  of  faith  and  methodical 
ablutions ;  how  you  may  steal  his  property  and  be  absolved 
on  sharing  it  with  certain  persons,  who  devote  themselves  to 
its  consumption. 

/f     Sovereign  and  invisible  power  of  the  universe!  mysterious 

mover  of  nature  !  universal  soul  of  beings  !  thou  who  art  un- 

\      known,  yet  revered  by  mortals  under  so  many  names !  being 

^     •<'„.  incomprehensible  and  infinite !  God,  who  in  the  immensity 

fa*&T      of  the  heavens  directest  the  movement  of  worlds,  and  peoplest 

the  abyss  of  space  with  millions  of  suns !  say  what  do  these 

human   insects,  which  my  sight  no  longer  discerns  on  the 

'    earth,  appear  in  thy  eyes  ?    To  thee,  who  art  guiding  stars  in 

their  orbits,  what  are  those  wormlings  writhing  themselves  in 

the  dust  ?   Of  what  import  to  thy  immensity,  their  distinctions 

of  parties  and  sects?    And  of  what  concern  the  subtleties 

with  which  their  folly  torments  itself? 

If  And  you,  credulous  men,  show  me  the  effect  of  your  prac- 
tices! In  so  many  centuries,  during  which  you  have  been 
following  or  altering  them,  what  changes  have  your  pre- 
scriptions wrought  in  the  laws  of  nature  ?  Is  the  sun  brighter  ? 

*  This  is  one  of  the  grand  points  of  schism  between  the  partisans  of  Omar  and 
those  of  Ali.  Suppose  two  Mahometans  to  meet  on  a  journey,  and  to  accost  each 
other  with  brotherly  affection  :  the  hour  of  prayer  arrives;  one  begins  his  ablution 
at  his  fingers,  the  other  at  the  elbow,  and  instantly  they  are  mortal  enemies.  O 
sublime  importance  of  religious  opinions  !  O  profound  philosophy  of  the  authors 
of  them! 


THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  47 

Is  the  course  of  the  seasons  varied  ?  Is  the  earth  more  fruit- 
ful, or  its  inhabitants  more  happy  ?  If  God  be  good,  can  your 
penances  please  him  ?  If  infinite,  can  your  homage  add  to 
his  glory?  If  his  decrees  have  been  formed  on  foresight  of 
every  circumstance,  can  your  prayers  change  them  ?  Answer, 
O  inconsistent  mortals  ! 

Ye  conquerors  of  the  earth,  who  pretend  you  serve  God! 
doth  he  need  your  aid  ?  If  he  wishes  to  punish,  hath  he  not 
earthquakes,  volcanoes,  and  thunder  ?  And  cannot  a  merciful 
God  correct  without  extermination  ? 

Ye  Mussulmans,  if  God  chastiseth  you  for  violating  the  five 
precepts,  how  hath  he  raised  up  the  Franks  who  ridicule 
them  ?  If  he  governeth  the  earth  by  the  Koran,  by  what  did 
he  govern  it  before  the  days  of  the  prophet,  when  it  was  cov- 
ered with  so  many  nations  who  drank  wine,  ate  pork,  and 
went  not  to  Mecca,  whom  he  nevertheless  permitted  to  raise 
powerful  empires  ?  How  did  he  judge  the  Sabeans  of  Nineveh 
and  of  Babylon ;  the  Persian,  worshipper  of  fire ;  the  Greek 
and  Roman  idolaters ;  the  ancient  kingdoms  of  the  Nile  ;  and 
your  own  ancestors,  the,  Arabians  and  Tartars  ?  How  doth 
he  yet  judge  so  many  nations  who  deny,  or  know  not  your 
worship — the  numerous  castes  of  Indians,  the  vast  empire 
of  the  Chinese,  the  sable  race  of  Africa,  the  islanders  of  the 
ocean,  the  tribes  of  America? 

Presumptuous  and  ignorant  men,  who  arrogate  the  earth 
to  yourselves !  if  God  were  to  gather  all  the  generations  past 
and  present,  what  would  be,  in  their  ocean,  the  sects  calling 
themselves  universal,  of  Christians  and  Mussulmans  ?  What 
would  be  the  judgments  of  his  equal  and  common  justice  over 
the  real  universality  of  mankind  ?  Therein  it  is  that  your 
knowledge  loseth  itself  in  incoherent  systems ;  it  is  there  that 
truth  shines  with  evidence;  and  there  are  manifested  the 
powerful  and  simple  laws  of  nature  and  reason — laws  of  a 
common  and  general  mover — of  a  God  impartial  and  just, 
who  sheds  rain  on  a  country  without  asking  who  is  its 
prophet ;  who  causeth  his  sun  to  shine  alike  on  all  the  races 
of  men,  on  the  white  as  on  the  black,  on  the  Jew,  on  the 
Mussulman,  the  Christian,  and  the  Idolater  ;  who  reareth  the 
harvest  wherever  cultivated  with  diligence ;  who  multiplieth ' 
every  nation  where  industry  and  order  prevaileth  ;  who  pros- 


48  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

pereth  every  empire  where  justice  is  practised,  where  the 
powerful  are  restrained,  and  the  poor  protected  by  the  laws  ; 
where  the  weak  live  in  safety,  and  all  enjoy  the  rights  given 
by  nature  and  a  compact  formed  in  justice. 

These  are  the  principles  by  which  people  are  judged !  this 
the  true  religion  which  regulates  the  destiny  of  empires,  and 
which,  O  Ottomans,  hath  governed  yours  !  Interrogate  your 
ancestors,  ask  of  them  by  what  means  they  rose  to  greatness ; 
when  few,  poor  and  idolaters,  they  came  from  the  deserts  of 
Tartary  and  encamped  in  these  fertile  countries ;  ask  if  it  was 
by  Islamism,  till  then  unknown  to  them,  that  they  conquered 
the  Greeks  and  the  Arabs,  or  was  it  by  their  courage,  their 
prudence,  moderation,  spirit  of  union — the  true  powers  of  the 
social  state  ?  Then  the  Sultan  himself  dispensed  justice,  and 
maintained  discipline.  The  prevaricating  judge,  the  extortion- 
ate governor,  were  punished,  and  the  multitude  lived  at  ease. 
The  cultivator  was  protected  from  the  rapine  of  the  janissary, 
and  the  fields  prospered ;  the  highways  were  safe,  and  com- 
merce caused  abundance.  You  were  a  band  of  plunderers, 
but  just  among  yourselves.  You  subdued  nations,  but  did 
not  oppress  them.  Harrassed  by  their  own  princes,  they 
preferred  being  your  tributaries.  What  matters  it,  said  the 
Christian,  whether  my  ruler  breaks  or  adores  images,  if  he 
renders  justice  to  me  ?  God  will  judge  his  doctrines  in  the 
heavens  above. 

You  were  sober  and  hardy ;  your  enemies  timid  and  ener- 
vated ;  You  were  expert  in  battle,  your  enemies  unskillful ; 
your  leaders  were  experienced,  your  soldiers  warlike  and 
disciplined.  Booty  excited  ardor,  bravery  was  rewarded, 
cowardice  and  insubordination  punished,  and  all  the  springs 
of  the  human  heart  were  in  action.  Thus  you  vanquished 
a  hundred  nations,  and  of  a  mass  of  conquered  kingdoms 
compounded  an  immense  empire. 

But  other  customs  have  succeeded;  and  in  the  reverses 
attending  them,  the  laws  of  nature  have  still  exerted  their 
force.  After  devouring  your  enemies,  your  cupidity,  still 
insatiable,  has  reacted  on  itself,  and,  concentrated  in  your 
own  bowels,  has  consumed  you. 

Having  become  rich,'  you  have  quarrelled  for  partition  and 
enjoyment,  and  disorder  hath  arisen  in  every  class  of  society. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  49 

The  Sultan,  intoxicated  with  grandeur,  has  mistaken  the 
object  of  his  functions ;  and  all  the  vices  of  arbitrary  power 
have  been  developed.  Meeting  no  obstacle  to  his  appetites, 
he  has  become  a  depraved  being  ;  weak  and  arrogant,  he  has 
kept  the  people  at  a  distance ;  and  their  voice  has  no  longer 
instructed  and  guided  him.  Ignorant,  yet  flattered,  neglecting 
all  instruction,  all  study,  he  has  fallen  into  imbecility ;  unfit 
for  business,  he  has  thrown  its  burdens  on  hirelings,  and  they 
have  deceived  him.  To  satisfy  their  own  passions,  they  have 
stimulated  and  nourished  his  ;  they  have  multiplied  his  wants, 
and  his  enormous  luxury  has  consumed  everything.  The 
frugal  table,  plain  clothing,  simple  dwelling  of  his  ances- 
tors no  longer  sufficed.  To  supply  his  pomp,  earth  and  sea 
have  been  exhausted.  The  rarest  furs  have  been  brought 
from  the  poles  ;  the  most  costly  tissues  from  the  equator. 
He  has  devoured  at  a  meal  the  tribute  of  a  city,  and  in  a  day 
that  of  a  province.  He  has  surrounded  himself  with  an  army 
of  women,  eunuchs,  and  satellites.  They  have  instilled  into 
him  that  the  virtue  of  kings  is  to  be  liberal,  and  the  munifi- 
cence and  treasures  of  the  people  have  been  delivered  into 
the  hands  of  flatterers.  In  imitation  of  their  master,  his 
servants  must  also  have  splendid  houses,  the  most  exquisite 
furniture ;  carpets  embroidered  at  great  cost,  vases  of  gold 
and  silver  for  the  lowest  uses,  and  all  the  riches  of  the  empire 
have  been  swallowed  up  in  the  Serai.  ., 

To  supply  this  inordinate  luxury,  the  slaves  and  women 
have  sold  their  influence,  arid  venality  has  introduced  a  gen-  ( 
eral  depravation.     The  favor  of  the  sovereign  has  been  sold 
to  his  vizier,  and  the  vizier  has  sold  the  empire.    The  law  has\ 
been  sold  to  the  cadi,  and  the  cadi  has  made  sale  of  justice.     Qi> 
The  altar  has  been  sold  to  the  priest,  and  the  priest  has  sold 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.     And  gold  obtaining  everything,  < 
they  have  sacrificed  everything  to  obtain  gold.     For  gold, 
friend  has  betrayed  friend,  the  child  his  parent,  the  servant 
his  master,  the  wife  her  honor,  the  merchant  his  conscience  ;  ^ 
and  good  faith,  morals,  concord,  and  strength  were  banished/, 
from  the  state. 

The  pacha,  who  had  purchased  the  government  of  his  prov- 
ince, farmed  it  out  to  others,  who  exercised  every  extortion. 
He  sold  in  turn  the  collection  of  the  taxes,  the  command  of 


5O  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

the  troops,  the  administration  of  the  villages ;  and  as  every 
employ  has  been  transient,  rapine,  spread  from  rank  to  rank, 
has  been  greedy  and  implacable.  The  revenue  officer  has 
fleeced  the  merchant,  and  commerce  was  annihilated  ;  the  aga 
has  plundered  the  husbandman,  and  culture  has  degenerated. 
The  laborer,  deprived  of  his  stock,  has  been  unable  to  sow  ; 
the  tax  was  augmented,  and  he  could  not  pay  it ;  the  basti- 
nado has  been  threatened,  and  he  has  borrowed.  Money, 
from  want  of  security,  being  locked  up  from  circulation, 
interest  was  therefore  enormous,  and  the  usury  of  the  rich 
has  aggravated  the  misery  of  the  laborer. 

When  excessive  droughts  and  accidents  of  seasons  have 
blasted  the  harvest,  the  government  has  admitted  no  delay, 
no  indulgence  for  the  tax ;  and  distress  bearing  hard  on  the 
village,  a  part  of  its  inhabitants  have  taken  refuge  in  the 
cities  ;  and  their  burdens  falling  on  those  who  remained,  has 
completed  their  ruin,  and  depopulated  the  country. 

If  driven  to  extremity  by  tyranny  and  outrage,  the  villages 
have  revolted,  the  pacha  rejoices.  He  wages  war  on  them, 
assails  their  homes,  pillages  their  property,  carries  off  their 
stock  ;  and  when  the  fields  have  become  a  desert,  he  exclaims: 

"  What  care  I  ?     I  leave  these  fields  to-morrow." 

The  earth  wanting  laborers,  the  rain  of  heaven  and  over- 
flowing of  torrents  have  stagnated  in  marshes ;  and  their 
putrid  exhalations  in  a  warm  climate,  have  caused  epidemics, 
plagues,  and  maladies  of  all  sorts,  whence  have  flowed  addi- 
tional suffering,  penury,  and  ruin. 

Oh!  who  can  enumerate  all  the  calamities  of  tyrannical 
government  ? 

Sometimes  the  pachas  declare  war  against  each  other, 
and  for  their  personal  quarrels  the  provinces  of  the  same 
state  are  laid  waste.  Sometimes,  fearing  their  masters,  they 
attempt  independence,  and  draw  on  their  subjects  the  chas- 
tisement of  their  revolt.  Sometimes  dreading  their  subjects, 
they  invite  and  subsidize  strangers,  and  to  insure  their  fidelity 
set  no  bounds  to  their  depredations.  Here  they  persecute 
the  rich  and  despoil  them  under  false  pretences  ;  there  they 
suborn  false  witnesses,  and  impose  penalties  for  suppositious 
offences ;  everywhere  they  excite  the  hatred  of  parties,  en- 
courage informations  to  obtain  amercements,  extort  property, 


THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES.  51 

seize  persons;  and  when  their  short-sighted  avarice  has 
accumulated  into  one  mass  all  the  riches  of  a  country,  the 
government,  by  an  execrable  perfidy,  under  pretence  of 
avenging  its  oppressed  people,  takes  to  itself  all  their  spoils, 
as  if  they  were  the  culprits,  and  uselessly  sheds  the  blood  of 
its  agents  for  a  crime  of  which  it  is  the  accomplice. 

Oh  wretches,  monarchs  or  ministers,  who  sport  with  the 
lives  and  fortunes  of  the  people !  Is  it  you  who  gave  breath 
to  man,  that  you  dare  take  it  from  him  ?  Do  you  give  growth 
to  the  plants  of  the  earth,  that  you  may  waste  them  ?  Do  you 
toil  to  furrow  the  field  ?  Do  you  endure  the  ardor  of  the  sun, 
and  the  torment  of  thirst,  to  reap  the  harvest  or  thrash  the 
grain  ?  Do  you,  like  the  the  shepherd,  watch  through  the  dews 
of  the  night  ?  Do  you  traverse  deserts,  like  the  merchant  ? 
Ah !  on  beholding  the  pride  and  cruelty  of  the  powerful,  I 
have  been  transported  with  indignation,  and  have  said  in  my 
wrath,  will  there  never  then  arise  on  the  earth  men  who  will 
avenge  the  people  and  punish  tyrants  ?  A  handful  of  brigands 
devour  the  multitude,  and  the  multitude  submits  to  be 
devoured !  Oh !  degenerate  people !  Know  you  not  your 
rights  ?  All  authority  is  from  you,  all  power  is  yours.  Un- 
lawfully do  kings  command  you  on  the  authority  of  God  and 
of  their  lance  —  Soldiers  be  still;  if  God  supports  the  Sultan 
he  needs  not  your  aid ;  if  his  sword  suffices,  he  needs  not 
yours ;  let  us  see  what  he  can  do  alone.  The  soldiers 
grounded  their  arms ;  and  behold  these  masters  of  the  world, 
feeble  as  the  meanest  of  their  subjects !  People  !  know  that 
those  who  govern  are  your  chiefs,  not  your  masters ;  your 
agents,  not  your  owners;  that  they  have  no  authority  over 
you,  but  by  you,  and  for  you ;  that  your  wealth  is  yours  -and 
they  accountable  for  it ;  that,  kings  or  subjects,  God  has  made 
all  men  equal,  and  no  mortal  has  the  right  to  oppress  his 
fellow-creatures. 

But  this  nation  and  its  chiefs  have  mistaken  these  holy 
truths.  They  must  abide  then  the  consequences  of  their 
blindness.  The  decree  is  past ;  the  day  approaches  when 
this  colossus  of  power  shall  be  crushed  and  crumbled  under 
its  own  mass.  Yes,  I  swear  it,  by  the  ruins  of  so  many  em- 
pires destroyed.  The  empire  of  the  Crescent  shall  follow  the 
fate  of  the  despotism  it  has  copied.  A  nation  of  strangers 


52  THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

shall  drive  the  Sultan  from  his  metropolis.  The  throne  of 
Orkhan  shall  be  overturned.  The  last  shoot  of  his  trunk  shall 
t>e  broken  off;  and  the  horde  of  Oguzians,*  deprived  of  their 
chief,  shall  disperse  like  that  of  the  Nagois.  In  this  dissolu- 
tion, the  people  of  the  empire,  loosened  from  the  yoke  which 
united  them,  shall  resume  their  ancient  distinctions,  and  a 
general  anarchy  shall  follow,  as  happened  in  the  empire  of  the 
Sophis  ;  f  until  there  shall  arise  among  the  Arabians,  Arme- 
nians, or  Greeks,  legislators  who  may  compose  new  states. 

Oh !  if  there  were  on  earth  men  profound  and  bold  !  what 
elements  for  grandeur  and  glory !  But  the  hour  of  destiny 
has  already  come ;  the  cry  of  war  strikes  my  ear ;  and  the 
catastrophe  begins.  In  vain  the  Sultan  leads  forth  his  armies ; 
his  ignorant  warriors  are  beaten  and  dispersed.  In  vain  he 
calls  his  subjects ;  their  hearts  are  ice.  Is  it  not  written  ?  say 
they,  what  matters  who  is  our  master?  We  cannot  lose  by 
the  change. 

In  vain  the  true  believers  invoke  heaven  and  the  prophet. 
The  prophet  is  dead ;  and  heaven  without  pity  answers : 

Cease  to  invoke  me.  You  have  caused  your  own  misfor- 
tunes ;  cure  them  yourselves.  Nature  has  established  laws  ; 
your  part  is  to  obey  them.  Observe,  reason,  and  profit  by 
experience.  It  is  the  folly  of  man  which  ruins  him  ;  let  his 
wisdom  save  him.  The  people  are  ignorant ;  let  them  gain 
instruction.  Their  chiefs  are  wicked ;  let  them  correct  and 
amend ;  for  such  is  Nature's  decree.  Since  the  evils  of  society 
spring  from  cupidity  and  ignorance,  men  will  never  cease  to 
be  persecuted,  till  they  become  enlightened  and  wise ;  till 
they  practise  justice,  founded  on  a  knowledge  of  their  relations 
and  of  the  laws  of  their  organization.! 

*  Before  the  Turks  took  the  name  of  their  chief,  Othman  I.,  they  bore  that  of 
Oguzians  ;  and  it  was  under  this  appellation  that  they  were  driven  out  of  Tartary 
by  Gengis,  and  came  from  the  borders  of  Gihoun  to  settle  themselves  in  Anatolia. 

t  In  Persia,  after  the  death  of  Thamas-Koulikan,  each  province  had  its  chief, 
and  for  forty  years  these  chiefs  were  in  a  constant  state  of  war.  In  this  view  the 
Turks  do  not  say  without  reason  :  "  Ten  years  of  a  tyrant  are  less  destructive 
than  a  single  night  of  anarchy." 

t  A  singular  moral  phenomenon  made  its  appearance  in  Europe  in  the  year 
1788.  A  great  nation,  jealous  of  its  liberty,  contracted  a  fondness  for  a  nation  the 
enemy  of  liberty  :  a  nation  friendly  to  the  arts,  for  a  nation  that  detests  them;  a 
mild  and  tolerant  nation,  for  a  persecuting  and  fanatic  one  ;  a  social  and  gay 
nation,  for  a  nation  whose  characteristics  are  gloom  and  misanthropy ;  in  a  word, 
the  French  were  smitten  with  a  paseion  for  the  Turks :  they  were  desirous  of 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  53 

CHAPTER   XIII. 

WILL  THE  HUMAN   RACE  IMPROVE? 

AT  these  words,  oppressed  with  the  painful  sentiment  with 
which  their  severity  overwhelmed  me:  Woe  to  the 
nations !  cried  I,  melting  in  tears ;  woe  to  myself!  Ah ! 
now  it  is  that  I  despair  of  the  happiness  of  man !  Since  his 
miseries  proceed  from  his  heart ;  since  the  remedy  is  in  his 
own  power,  woe  for  ever  to  his  existence !  Who,  indeed  will 
ever  be  able  to  restrain  the  lust  of  wealth  in  the  strong  and 
powerful  ?  Who  can  enlighten  the  ignorance  of  the  weak  ? 
Who  can  teach  the  multitude  to  know  their  rights,  and  force 
their  chiefs  to  perform  their  duties  ?  Thus  the  race  of  man  is 
always  doomed  to  suffer !  Thus  the  individual  will  not  cease 
to  oppress  the  individual,  a  nation  to  attack  a  nation  ;  and 
days  of  prosperity,  of  glory,  for  these  regions,  shall  never 
return.  Alas !  conquerors  will  come  ;  they  will  drive  out  the 
oppressors,  and  fix  themselves  in  their  place ;  but,  inheriting 
their  power,  they  will  inherit  their  rapacity ;  and  the  earth 
will  have  changed  tyrants,  without  changing  the  tyranny. 

Then,  turning  to  the  Genius,  I  exclaimed: 

O  Genius,  despair  hath  settled  on  my  soul.     Knowing  the 

engaging  in  a  war  for  them,  and  that  at  a  time  when  revolution  in  their  own 
country  was  just  at  its  commencement.  A  man,  who  perceived  the  true  nature 
of  the  situation,  wrote  a  book  to  dissuade  them  from  the  war:  it  was  immediately 
pretended  that  he  was  paid  by  the  government,  which  in  reality  wished  the  war, 
and  which  was  upon  the  point  of  shutting  him  up  in  a  state  prison.  Another  man 
wrote  to  recommend  the  war :  he  was  applauded,  and  his  word  taken  for  the 
science,  the  politeness,  and  importance  of  the  Turks.  It  is  true  that  he  believed 
in  his  own  thesis,  for  he  has  found  among  them  people  who  cast  a  nativity,  and 
alchymists  who  ruined  his  fortune  ;  as  he  found  Martinists  at  Paris,  who  enabled 
him  to  sup  with  Sesostris,  and  Magnetizers  who  concluded  with  destroying  his 
existence.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  Turks  were  beaten  by  the  Russians,  and 
the  man  who  then  predicted  the  fall  of  their  empire,  persists  in  the  prediction. 
The  result  of  this  fall  will  be  a  complete  change  of  the  political  system,  as  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean.  If,  however,  the  French  become  im- 
portant in  proportion  as  they  become  free,  and  if  they  make  use  of  the  advantage 
they  will  obtain,  their  progress  may  easily  prove  of  the  most  honorable  sort;  in- 
asmuch as,  by  the  wise  decrees  of  fate,  the  true  interest  of  mankind  evermore 
accords  with  their  true  morality. 


54  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

nature  of  man,  the  perversity  of  those  who  govern,  and  the 
debasement  of  the  governed — this  knowledge  hath  disgusted 
me  with  life  ;  and  since  there  is  no  choice  but  to  be  the  ac- 
complice or  the  victim  of  oppression,  what  remains  to  the 
man  of  virtue  but  to  mingle  his  ashes  with  those  of  the  tomb  ? 

The  Genius  then  gave  me  a  look  of  severity,  mingled  with 
compassion  ;  and  after  a  few  moments  of  silence,  he  replied  : 

Virtue,  then,  consists  in  dying  l^he  wicked  man  is  indefati- 
gable in  consummating  his  crime,  and  the  just  is  discouraged 
from  doing  good  at  the  first  obstacle  he  encounters !  But 
such  is  the  human  heart.  A  little  success  intoxicates  man 
with  confidence ;  a  reverse  overturns  and  confounds  him. 
Always  given  up  to  the  sensation  of  the  moment,  he  seldom 
judges  things  from  their  nature,  but  from  the  impulse  of  his 
passioii. 

Mortal,  who  despairest  of  the  human  race,  on  what  profound 
combination  of  facts  hast  thou  established  thy  conclusion  ? 
Hast  thou  scrutinized  the  organization  of  sentient  beings, 
to  determine  with  precision  whether  the  instinctive  force 
which  moves  them  on  to  happiness  is  essentially  weaker  than 
that  which  repels  them  from  it  ?  or,  embracing  in  one  glance 
the  history  of  the  species,  and  judging  the  future  by  the  past, 
hast  thou  shown  that  all  improvement  is  impossible  ?  Say  ! 
hath  human  society,  since  its  origin,  made  no  progress  toward 
knowledge  and  a  better  state  ?  Are  men  still  in  their  forests, 
destitute  of  everything,  ignorant,  stupid  and  ferocious?  Are 
all  the  nations  still  in  that  age  when  nothing  was  seen  upon 
the  globe  but  brutal  robbers  and  brutal  slaves  ?  If  at  any 
time,  in  any  place,  individuals  have  ameliorated,  why  shall 
not  the  whole  mass  ameliorate  ?  If  partial  societies  .have  made 
improvements,  what  shall  hinder  the  improvement  of  society 
in  general?  And  if  the  first  obstacles  are  overcome,  why 
should  the  others  be  insurmountable  ? 

Art  thou  disposed  to  think  that  the  human  race  degenerates  ? 
Guard  against  the  illusion  and  paradoxes  of  the  misanthrope. 
Man,  discontented  with__the  present,  imagines  for  the  past  a 
perfection  which  never  existed,  and  which  only  serves  to  cover 
his  chagrin.  He  praises  the  dead  out  of  hatred  to  the  living, 
and  beats  the  children  with  the  bones  of  their  ancestors. 

To  prove  this  pretended  retrograde  progress  from  perfection 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  55 

we  must  contradict  the  testimony  of  reason  and  of  fact ;  and 
if  the  facts  of  history  are  in  any  measure  uncertain,  we  must 
contradict  the  living  fact  of  the  organization  of  man  ;  we  must 
prove  that  he  is  born  with  the  enlightened  use  of  his  senses ; 
that,  without  experience,  he  can  distinguish  aliment  from 
poison  ;  that  the  child  is  wiser  than  the  old  man  ;  that  the 
blind  walkl  with  more  safety  than  the  clear-sighted ;  that  the 
civilized  man  is  more  miserable  than  the  savage  ;  and,  indeed, 
that  there  is  no  ascending  scale  in  experience  and  instruction. 
Believe,  young  man,  the  testimony  of  monuments,  and  the 
voice  of  the  tombs.  Some  countries  have  doubtless  fallen 
from  what  they  were  at  certain  epochs ;  but  if  we  weigh  the 
wisdom 'and  happiness  of  their  inhabitants,  even  in  those 
times,  we  shall  find  more  of  splendor  than  of  reality  in  their 
glory  ;  we  shall  find,  in  the  most  celebrated  of  ancient  states, 
enormous  vices  and  cruel  abuses,  the  true  causes  of  their 
decay  ;  we  shall  find  in  general  that  the  principles  of  govern- 
ment were  atrocious ;  that  insolent  robberies,  barbarous  wars, 
and  implacable  hatreds  were  raging  from  nation  to  nation  ;  * 
that  natural  right  was  unknown  ;  that  morality  was  perverted 
by  senseless  fanaticism  and  deplorable  superstition ;  that  a 
dream,  a  vision,  an  oracle,  were  constantly  the  causes  of  vast 
commotions.  Perhaps  the  nations  are  not  yet  entirely  cured 
of  all  these  evils  ;  but  their  intensity  at  least  is  diminished,  and 
the  experience  of  the  past  has  not  been  wholly  lost.  For  the 
last  three  centuries,  especially,  knowledge  has  increased  and 
been  extended  ;  civilization,  favored  by  happy  circumstances, 
has  made  a  sensible  progress ;  inconveniences  and  abuses 
have  even  turned  to  its  advantage  ;  for  if  states  have  been  too 
much  extended  by  conquest,  the  people,  by  uniting  under  the 
same  yoke,  have  lost  the  spirit  of  estrangement  and  division 
which  made  them  all  enemies  one  to  the  other.  If  the  pow- 
ers of  government  have  been  more  concentrated,  there  has 
been  more  system  and  harmony  in  their  exercise.  If  wars 
have  become  more  extensive  in  the  mass,  they  are  less  bloody 
in  detail.  If  men  have  gone  to  battle  with  less  personality, 
less  energy,  their  struggles  have  been  less  sanguinary  and 

*  Read  the  history  of  the  wars  of  Rome  and  Carthage,  of  Sparta  and  Messina, 
of  Athens  and  Syracuse,  of  the  Hebrews  and  the  Phoenicians  :  yet  these^ire  the 
nations  of  which  antiquity  boasts  as  being  most  polished  ! 
WxX/  '  vvO^vv^t*  tA*-'  Wp. 


56  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

v lless  ferocious ;  they  have  been  less  free,  but  less  turbulent; 
» more  effeminate,  but  more  pacific.  Despotism  itself  has 
rendered  them  some  service ;  for  if  governments  have  been 
more  absolute,  they  have  been  more  quiet  and  less  tempestu- 
ous. If  thrones  have  become  a  property  and  hereditary,  they 
have  excited  less  dissensions,  and  the  people  have  suffered 
fewer  convulsions; -finally,  if  the  despots,  jealous  and  myste- 
rious, have  interdicted  all  knowledge  of  their  administration, 
all  concurrence  in  the  management  of  public  affairs,  the  pas- 
sions of  men,  drawn  aside  from  politics,  have  fixed  upon  the 
arts,  and  the  sciences  of  nature ;  and  the  sphere  of  ideas  in 
every  direction  has  been  enlarged ;  man,  devoted  to  abstract 
studies,  has  better  understood  his  place  in  the  system  of  na- 
ture, and  his  relations  in  society ;  principles  have  been  better 
discussed,  final  causes  better  explained,  knowledge  more  ex- 
tended, individuals  better  instructed,  manners  more  social, 
and  life  more  happy.  The  species  at  large,  especially  in  cer- 
tain countries,  has  gained  considerably ;  and  this  amelioration 
cannot  but  increase  in  future,  because  its  two  principal  ob- 
stacles, those  even  which,  till  then,  had  rendered  it  slow  and 
sometimes  retrograde, — the  difficultyof  transmitting  ideas  and 
of  communicating  them  rapidly, — have  been  at  last  removed. 

Indeed,  among  the  ancients,  each  canton,  each  city,  being 
isolated  from  all  others  by  the  difference  of  its  language,  the 
consequence  was  favorable  to  ignorance  and  anarchy.  There 
was  no  communication  of  ideas,  no  participation  of  discov- 
eries, no  harmony  of  interests  or  of  wills,  no  unity  of  action  or 
design  ;  besides,  the  only  means  of  transmitting  and  of  propa- 
gating ideas  being  that  of  speech,  fugitive  and  limited,  and 
that  of  writing,  tedious  of  execution,  expensive  and  scarce, 
the  consequence  was  a  hindrance  of  present  instruction,  loss 
of  experience  from  one  generation  to  another,  instability, 
retrogression  of  knowledge,  and  a  perpetuity  of  confusion 
and  childhood. 

But  in  the  modern  world,  especially  in  Europe,  great  nations 
having  allied  themselves  in  language,  and  established  vast 
communities  of  opinions,  the  minds  of  men  are  assimilated, 
and  their  affections  extended  ;  there  is  a  sympathy  of  opinion 
and  a  unity  of  action ;  then  that  gift  of  heavenly  Genius,  the 
holy  art  of  printing,  having  furnished  the  means  of  communi- 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  57 

eating  in  an  instant  the  same  idea  to  millions  of  men,  and  of 
fixing  it  in  a  durable  manner,  beyond  the  power  of  tyrants  to 
arrest  or  annihilate,  there  arose  a  mass  of  progressive  in- 
struction, an  expanding  atmosphere  of  science,  which  assures 
to  future  ages  a  solid  amelioration.  This  amelioration  is  a 
necessary  effect  of  the  laws  of  nature ;  for,  by  the  law  of  sen- 
sibility, man  as  invincibly  tends  to  render  himself  happy  as 
the  flame  to  mount,  the  stone  to  descend,  or  the  water  to  find 
its  level.  His  obstacle  is  his  ignorance,  which  misleads  him 
in  the  means,  and  deceives  him  in  causes  and  effects.  He 
will  enlighten  himself  by  experience ;  he  will  become  right 
by  dint  of  errors ;  he  will  grow  wise  and  good  because  it  is 
his  interest  so  to  be.  Ideas  being  communicated  through  the 
nation,  whole  classes  will  gain  instruction ;  science  will  be- 
come a  vulgar  possession,  and  all  men  will  know  what  are 
the  principles  of  individual  happiness  and  of  public  prosperity. 
They  will  know  the  relations  they  bear  to  society,  their  duties 
and  their  rights ;  they  will  learn  to  guard  against  the  illusions 
of  the  lust  of  gain ;  they  will  perceive  that  the  science  of 
morals  is  a  physical  science,  composed,  indeed,  of  elements 
complicated  in  their  operation,  but  simple  and  invariable  in 
their  nature,  since  they  are  only  the  elements  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  man.  They  will  see  the  propriety  of  being  moderate 
and  just,  because  in  that  is  found  the  advantage  and  security 
of  each  ;  they  will  perceive  that  the  wish  to  enjoy  at  the  ex-^ 
pense  of  another  is  a  false  calculation  of  ignorance,  because  it  i 
gives  rise  to  reprisal,  hatred,  and  vengeance,  and  that  dishon-  • 
esty  is  the  never-failing  offspring  of  folly. 

Individuals  will  feel  that  private  happiness  is  allied  to  pub- 
lic good : 

The  weak,  that  instead  of  dividing  their  interests,  they 
ought  to  unite  them,  because  equality  constitutes  their  force: 

The  rich,  that  the  measure  of  enjoyment  is  bounded  by  the 
constitution  of  the  organs,  and  that  lassitude  follows  satiety : 

The  poor,  that  the  employment  of  time,  and  the  peace  of 
the  heart,  compose  the  highest  happiness  of  man.  And  pub- 
lic opinion,  reaching  kings  on  their  thrones,  will  force  them 
to  confine  themselves  to  the  limits  of  regular  authority. 

Even  chance  itself,  serving  the  cause  of  nations,  will  some- 
times give  them  feeble  chiefs,  who,  through  weakness,  will 


(J^L*-        C~- 


58  THE   RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

suffer  them  to  become  free  ;  and   sometimes    enlightened 
chiefs,  who,  from  a  principle  of  virtue,  will  free  them. 

And  when  nations,  free  and  enlightened,  shall  become  like 
great  individuals,  the  whole  species  will  have  the  same  facili- 
ties as  particular  portions  now  have ;  the  communication  of 
knowledge  will  extend  from  one  to  another,  and  thus  reach 
the  whole.  ^By  the  law  of  imitation,  the  example  of  one  peo- 
ple will  be  followed  by  others,  who  will  adopt  its  spirit  and 
its  laws.  "Even  despots,  perceiving  that  they  can  no  longer 
maintain  their  authority  without  justice  and  beneficence,  will 
soften  their  sway  from  necessity,  from  rivalship ;  and  civiliza- 
tion will  become  universal.  L«V  v*  W^1  **\ 

There  will  be  established  among  the  several  nations  an 
equilibrium  of  force,  which,  restraining  them  all  within  the 
bounds  of  the  respect  due  to  their  reciprocal  rights,  shall  put 
an  end  to  the  barbarous  practice  of  war,  and  submit  their  dis- 
putes to  civil  arbitration.*  The  human  race  will  become  one 
great  society,  one  individual  family,  governed  by  the  same 
spirit,  by  common  laws,  and  enjoying  all  the  happiness  of 
which  their  nature  is  susceptible. 

Doubtless  this  great  work  will  be  long  accomplishing  ; 
because  the  same  movement  must  be  given  to  an  immense 
body  ;  the  same  leaven  must  assimilate  an  enormous  mass  of 
heterogeneous  parts.  But  this  movement  shall  be  effected ; 
its  presages  are  already  to  be  seen.  Already  the  great  society, 
assuming  in  its  course  the  same  characters  as  partial  societies 
have  done,  is  evidently  tending  to  a  like  result.  At  first  dis- 
connected in  all  its  parts,  it  saw  its  members  for  a  long  time 
without  cohesion ;  and  this  general  solitude  of  nations  formed 
its  first  age  of  anarchy  and  childhood  ;  divided  afterwards  by 
chance  into  irregular  sections,  called  states  and  kingdoms, 
it  has  experienced  the  fatal  effects  of  an  extreme  inequality  of 
wealth  and  rank  ;  and  the  aristocracy  of  great  empires  has 
formed  its  second  age  ;  then,  these  lordly  states  disputing 
for  preeminence,  have  exhibited  the  period  of  the  shock  of 
factions. 

*  What  is  a  people ?  An  individual  of  the  society  at  large.  What  a  war?  A 
duel  between  two  individual  people.  In  what  manner  ought  a  society  to  act 
when  two  of  its  members  fight?  Interfere  and  reconcile,  or  repress  them.  In 
the  days  of  the  Abb6  de  Saint  Pierre  this  was  treated  as  a  dream,  but  happily  for 
the  human  race  it  begins  to  be  realized. 


-*10 
ULx   - 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  59 

At  present  the  contending  parties,  wearied  with  discord, 
feel  the  want  of  laws,  and  sigh  for  the  age  of  order  and  of 
peace.  Let  but  a  virtuous  chief  arise*?  a  just,  a  powerful 
people  appear !  and  the  earth  will  raise  them  to  supreme 
power.  The  world  is  waiting  for  a  legislative  people ;  it 
wishes  and  demands  it ;  and  my  heart  attends  the  cry. 

Then  turning  towards  the  west :  Yes,  continued  he,  a  hollow 
sound  already  strikes  my  ear ;  a  cry  of  liberty,  proceeding 
from  far  distant  shores,  resounds  on  the  ancient  continent. 
•At  this  cry,  a  secret  murmur  against  oppression  is  raised  in  a 
powerful  nation ;  a  salutary  inquietude  alarms  her  respecting 
her  situation  ;  she  enquires  what  she  is,  and  what  she  ought 
to  be ;  while,  surprised  at  her  own  weakness,  she  interrogates 
her  rights,  her  resources,  and  what  has  been  the  conduct  of. 
her  chiefs  (.  *^-*-  ^-.^>-  *•  j^<  *^*-»x  •.•*#••  ft  ~->*^~+-  tt> -f*~r>  wcL.  ££ 

Yet  another  day — a  little  more  reflection — and  an  immense 
agitation  will  begin  ;  a  new-born  age  will  open !  an  age  of 
astonishment  to  vulgar  minds,  of  terror  to  tyrants,  of  freedom 
to  a  great  nation,  and  of  hope  to  the  human  race ! 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE   GREAT  OBSTACLE  TO   IMPROVEMENT. 

Genius  ceased.    But  preoccupied  with  melancholy 
thoughts,  my  mind  resisted  persuasion ;  fearing,  how- 
ever, to  shock  him  by  my  resistance,  I  remained  silent. 
After  a  while,  turning  to  me  with  a  look  which  pierced  my 
soul,  he  said  : 

Thou  art  silent,  and  thy  heart  is  agitated  with  thoughts 
which  it  dares  not  utter. 
At  last,  troubled  and  terrified,  I  replied : 
O  Genius,  pardon  my  weakness.    Doubtless  thy  mouth  can 
utter  nothing  but  truth ;  but  thy  celestial  intelligence  can  seize 
its  rays,  where  my  gross  faculties  can  discern  nothing  but 
clouds.    I  confess  it ;  conviction  has  not  penetrated  my  soul, 
and  I  feared  that  my  doubts  might  offend  thee. 


60  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

And  what  is  doubt,  replied  he,  that  it  should  be  a  crime  ? 
Can  man  feel  otherwise  than  as  he  is  affected  ?  If  a  truth  be 
palpable,  and  of  importance  in  practice,  let  us  pity  him  that 
misconceives  it.  His  punishment  will  arise  from  his  blindness. 
If  it  be  uncertain  or  equivocal,  how  is  he  to  find  in  it  what  it 
has  not  ?  To  believe  without  evidence  or  proof,  is  an  act  of 
ignorance  and  folly.  The  credulous  man  loses  himself  in  a 
labyrinth  of  contradictions ;  the  man  of  sense  examines  and  dis- 
cusses, that  he  may  be  consistent  in  his  opinions.  The  honest 
man  will  bear  contradiction  ;  because  it  gives  rise  to  evidence. 
Violence  is  the  argument  of  falsehood ;  and  to  impose  a  creed 
by  authority  is  the  act  and  indication  of  a  tyrant. 

O  Genius,  said  I,  encouraged  by  these  words,  since  my 
reason  is  free,  1  strive  in  vain  to  entertain  the  flattering  hope 
with  which  you  endeavor  to  console  me.  The  sensible  and 
virtuous  soul  is  easily  caught  with  dreams  of  happiness  ;  but 
a  cruel  reality  constantly  awakens  it  to  suffering  and  wretch- 
edness. The  more  I  meditate  on  the  nature  of  man,  the  more 
I  examine  the  present  state  of  societies,  the  less  possible  it 
appears  to  realize  a  world  of  wisdom  and  felicity.  I  cast  my 
eye  over  the  whole  of  our  hemisphere ;  I  perceive  in  no  place 
the  germ,  nor  do  I  foresee  the  instinctive  energy  of  a  happy 
revolution.  All  Asia  lies  buried  in  profound  darkness.  The 
Chinese,  governed  by  an  insolent  despotism,*  by  strokes  of 
the  bamboo  and  the  cast  of  lots,  restrained  by  an  immutable 
code  of  gestures,  and  by  the  radical  vices  of  an  ill-constructed 
language,!  appear  to  be  in  their  abortive  civilization  nothing 

*  The  emperor  of  China  calls  himself  the  son  of  heaven ;  that  is,  of  God  :  for 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Chinese,  the  material  of  heaven,  the  arbiter  of  fatality, 
is  the  Deity  himself.  "  The  emperor  only  shows  himself  once  in  ten  months,  lest 
the  people,  accustomed  to  see  him,  might  lose  their  respect ;  for  he  holds  it  as  a 
maxim  that  power  can  only  be  supported  by  force,  that  the  people  have  no  idea 
of  justice,  and  are  not  to  be  governed  but  by  coercion."  Narrative  of  two  Ma- 
hometan travellers  in  851  and  877,  translated  by  the  Abbd  Renaudot  in  1718. 

Notwithstanding  what  is  asserted-by  the  missionaries,  this  situation  has  under- 
gone no  change.  The  bamboo  still  reigns  in  China,  and  the  son  of  heaven  basti- 
nades,  for  the  most  trivial  fault,  the  Mandarin,  who  in  his  turn  bastinades  the 
people.  The  Jesuits  may  tell  us  that  this  is  the  best  governed  country  in  the 
world,  and  its  inhabitants  the  happiest  of  men  :  but  a  single  letter  from  Amyot 
has  convinced  me  that  China  is  a  truly  Turkish  government,  and  the  account  of 
Sonnerat  confirms  it.  See  Vol.  II.  of  Voyage  aux  Indes,  in  4to. 

t  As  long  as  the  Chinese  shall  in  writing  make  use  of  their  present  characters, 
they  can  be  expected  to  make  no  progress  in  civilization.  The  necessary  intro- 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  6l 

but  a  race  of  automatons.  The  Indian,  borne  down  by 
prejudices,  and  enchained  in  the  sacred  fetters  of  his  castes, 
vegetates  in  an  incurable  apathy.  The  Tartar,  wandering  or 
fixed,  always  ignorant  and  ferocious,  lives  in  the  savageness 
of  his  ancestors.  The  Arab,  endowed  with  a  happy  genius, 
loses  its  force  and  the  fruits  of  his  virtue  in  the  anarchy  of  his 
tribes  and  the  jealousy  of  his  families.  The  African,  degraded 
from  the  rank  of  man,  seems  irrevocably  doomed  to  servitude. 
In  the  North  I  see  nothing  but  vilified  serfs,  herds  of  men  with 
which  landlords  stock  their  estates.  Ignorance,  tyranny,  and 
wretchedness  have  everywhere  stupified  the  nations  ;  and 
vicious  habits,  depraving  the  natural  senses,  have  destroyed 
the  very  instinct  of  happiness  and  of  truth. 

In  some  parts  of  Europe,  indeed,  reason  has  begun  to  dawn, 
but  even  there,  do  nations  partake  of  the  knowledge  of  indi- 
viduals ?  Are  the  talents  and  genius  of  governors  turned  to 
the  benefit  of  the  people  ?  And  those  nations  which  call  them- 
selves polished,  are  they  not  the  same  that  for  the  last  three 
centuries  have  filled  the  earth  with  their  injustice  ?  Are  they 
not  those  who,  under  the  pretext  of  commerce,  have  desolated 
India,  depopulated  a  new  continent,  and,  at  present,  subject 
Africa  to  the  most  barbarous  slavery  ?  Can  liberty  be  born 
from  the  bosom  of  despots?  and  shall  justice  be  rendered 
by  the  hands  of  piracy  and  avarice  ?  O  Genius,  I  have  seen 
the  civilized  countries  ;  and  the  mockery  of  their  wisdom  has 
vanished  before  my  sight.  I  saw  wealth  accumulated  in  the 
hands  of  a  few,  and  the  multitude  poor  and  destitute.  I  have 
seen  all  rights,  all  powers  concentered  in  certain  classes,  and 
the  mass  of  the  people  passive  and  dependent.  I  have  seen 
families  of  princes,  but  no  families  of  the  nation.  I  have  seen 
government  interests,  but  no  public  interests  or  spirit.  I  have 
seen  that  a]l  the  science  of  government  was  to  oppress  oru- 
dently ;  and  the  refined  servitude  of  polished  nations  appeared 
to  me  only  the  more  irremediable. 

One  obstacle  above  all  has  profoundly  struck  my  mind.  On 
looking  over  the  world,  I  have  seen  it  divided  into  twenty 
different  systems  of  religion.  Every  nation  has  received,  or 

ductory  step  must  be  the  giving  them  an  alphabet  like  our  own,  or  of  substituting 
in  the  room  of  their  language  that  of  the  Tartars.  The  improvement  made  in  the 
latter  by  M.  de  Lengles,  is  calculated  to  introduce  this  change.  See  the  Mantchou 
alphabet,  the  production  of  a  mind  truly  learned  in  the  formation  of  language. 


62  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

formed,  opposite  opinions ;  and  every  one  ascribing  to  itself 
the  exclusive  possession  of  the  truth,  must  believe  the  other  to 
be  wrong.  Now  if,  as  must  be  the  fact  in  this  discordance  of 
opinion,  the  greater  part  are  in  error,  and  are  honest  in  it,  then 
it  follows  that  our  mind  embraces  falsehood  as  it  does  truth ; 
and  if  so,  how  is  it  to  be  enlightened?  When  prejudice  has 
once  seized  the  mind,  how  is  it  to  be  dissipated?  How  shall 
we  remove  the  bandage  from  our  eyes,  when  the  first  article 
in  every  creed,  the  first  dogma  in  all  religion,  is  the  absolute 
proscription  of  doubt,  the  interdiction  of  examination,  and  the 
rejection  of  our  own  judgment  ?  How  is  truth  to  make  her- 
self known? — If  she  resorts  to  arguments  and  proofs,  the 
timid  man  stifles  the  voice  of  his  own  conscience  ;  if  she 
invokes  the  authority  of  celestial  powers,  he  opposes  it  with 
another  authority  of  the  same  origin,  with  which  he  is  pre- 
occupied ;  and  he  treats  all  innovation  as  blasphemy.  Thus 
man  in  his  blindness,  has  riveted  his  own  chains,  and  surren- 
dered himself  forever,  without  defence,  to  the  sport  of  his 
ignorance  and  his  passions. 

To  dissolve  such  fatal  chains,  a  miracluous  concurrence  of 
happy  events  would  be  necessary.  A  whole  nation,  cured  of 
the  delirium  of  superstition,  must  be  inaccessible  to  the  im- 
pulse of  fanaticism.  Freed  from  the  yoke  of  false  doctrine, 
a  whole  people  must  impose  upon  itself  that  of  true  morality 
and  reason.  This  people  should  be  courageous  and  prudent, 
wise  and  docile.  Each  individual,  knowing  his  rights,  should 
not  transgress  them.  The  poor  should  know  how  to  resist 
seduction,  and  the  rich  the  allurements  of  avarice.  There 
should  be  found  leaders  disinterested  and  just,  and  their 
tyrants  should  be  seized  with  a  spirit  of  madness  and  folly. 
This  people,  recovering  its  rights,  should  feel  its  inability  to 
exercise  them  in  person,  and  should  name  its  representatives. 
Creator  of  its  magistrates,  it  should  know  at  once  to  respect 
them  and  to  judge  them.  In  the  sudden  reform  of  a  whole 
nation,  accustomed  to  live  by  abuses,  each  individual  displaced 
should  bear  with  patience  his  privations,  and  submit  to  a 
change  of  habits.  This  nation  should  have  the  courage  to 
conquer  its  liberty,  the  power  to  defend  it.  the  wisdom  to  es- 
tablish it,  and  the  generosity  to  extendjt  to  others.  And  can 
we  ever  expect  the  union  ot  so  rnanycircumstances  ?  But 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  63 

suppose  that  chance  in  its  infinite  combinations  should  pro- 
duce them,  shall  I  see  those  fortunate  days.  Will  not  my 
ashes  long  ere  then  be  mouldering  in  the  tomb  ? 

Here,  sunk  in  sorrow,  my  oppressed  heart  no  longer  found 
utterance.  The  Genius  answered  not,  but  I  heard  him  whis- 
per to  himself: 

Let  us  revive  the  hope  of  this  man ;  for  if  he  who  loves  his 
fellow  creatures  be  suffered  to  despair,  what  will  become  of 
nations  ?  The  past  is  perhaps  too  discouraging ;  I  must 
anticipate  futurity,  and  disclose  to  the  eye  of  virtue  the  aston- 
ishing age  that  is  ready  to  begin ;  that,  on  viewing  the  object 
she  desires,  she  may  be  animated  with  new  ardor,  and 
redouble  her  efforts  to  attain  it. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

THE  NEW  AGE. 

OCARCELY  had  he  finished  these  words,  when  a  great 
^  tumult  arose  in  the  west ;  and  turning  to  that  quarter,  I 
perceived,  at  the  extremity  of  the  Mediterranean,  in  one 
of  the  nations  of  Europe,  a  prodigious  movement — such  as 
when  a  violent  sedition  arises  in  a  vast  city — a  numberless 
people,  rushing  in  all  directions,  pour  through  the  streets  and 
fluctuate  like  waves  in  the  public  places.  My  ear,  struck  with 
the  cries  which  resounded  to  the  heavens,  distinguished 
these  words : 

What  is  this  new  prodigy?  What  cruel  and  mysterious 
scourge  is  this  ?  We  are  a  numerous  people  and  we  want 
hands !  We  have  an  excellent  soil,  and  we  are  in  want  of 
subsistence  ?  We  are  active  and  laborious,  and  we  live  in 
indigence !  We  pay  enormous  tributes,  and  we  are  told  they 
are  not  sufficient !  We  are  at  peace  without,  and  our  persons 
and  property  are  not  safe  within.  Who,  then,  is  the  secret 
enemy  that  devours  us  ? 

Some  voices  from  the  midst  of  the  multitude  replied : 
Raise   a   discriminating   standard;  and  let  all  those   who 


64  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

maintain  and  nourish  mankind  by  useful  labors  gather  round 
it ;  and  you  will  discover  the  enemy  that  preys  upon  you. 

The  standard  being  raised,  this  nation  divided  itself  at  once 
into  two  bodies  of  unequal  magnitude  and  contrasted  appear- 
ance. The  one,  innumerable,  and  almost  total,  exhibited  in 
the  poverty  of  its  clothing,  in  its  emaciated  appearance  and 
sun-burnt  faces,  the  marks  of  misery  and  labor ;  the  other, 
a  little  group,  an  insignificant  faction,  presented  in  its  rich 
attire  embroidered  with  gold  and  silver,  and  in  its  sleek  and 
ruddy  faces,  the  signs  of  leisure  and  abundance. 

Considering  these  men  more  attentively,  I  found  that  the 
great  body  was  composed  of  farmers,  artificers,  merchants, 
all  professions  useful  to  society  ;  and  that  the  little  group  was 
made  up  of  priests  of  every  order,  of  financiers,  of  nobles,  of 
men  in  livery,  of  commanders  of  armies  ;  in  a  word,  of  the 
civil,  military,  and  religious  agents  of  government. 

These  two  bodies  being  assembled  face  to  face,  and  regard- 
ing each  other  with  astonishment,  I  saw  indignation  and  rage 
arising  in  one  side,  and  a  sort  of  panic  in  the  other.  And  the 
large  body  said  to  the  little  one :  Why  are  you  separated 
from  us  ?  Are  you  not  of  our  number  ? 

No,  replied  the  group  ;  you  are  the  people ;  we  are  a  privi- 
leged class,  who  have  our  laws,  customs,  and  rights,  peculiar 
to  ourselves. 

PEOPLE. — And  what  labor  do  you  perform  in  our  society  ? 

PRIVILEGED  CLASS. — None ;  we  are  not  made  to  work. 

PEOPLE. — How,  then,  have  you  acquired  these  riches  ? 

PRIVILEGED  CLASS. — By  taking  the  pains  to  govern  you. 

PEOPLE. — What !  is  this  what  you  call  governing  ?  We  toil 
and  you  enjoy !  we  produce  and  you  dissipate  !  Wealth  pro- 
ceeds from  us,  and  you  absorb  it.  Privileged  men  !  class  who 
are  not  the  people ;  form  a  nation  apart,  and  govern  your- 
selves.* 

*  This  dialogue  between  the  people  and  the  indolent  classes,  is  applicable  to 
every  society  ;  it  contains  the  seeds  of  all  the  political  vices  and  disorders  that 
prevail,  and  which  may  thus  be  defined  :  Men  who  do  nothing,  and  who  devour 
the  substance  of  others  ;  and  men  who  arrogate  to  themselves  particular  rights 
and  exclusive  privileges  of  wealth  and  indolence.  Compare  the  Mamlouks  of 
Egypt,  the  nobility  of  Europe,  the  Nairs  of  India,  the  Emirs  of  Arabia,  the  patri- 
cians of  Rome,  the  Christian  clergy,  the  Imans,  the  Bramins,  the  Bonzes,  the 
Lamas,  etc.,  etc.,  and  you  will  find  in  all  the  same  characteristic  feature  : — Men 
living  in  idleness  at  the  expense  of  those  who  labor. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  65 

Then  the  little  group,  deliberating  on  this  new  state  of 
things,  some  of  the  most  honorable  among  them  said :  We 
must  join  the  people  and  partake  of  their  labors  and  burdens, 
for  they  are  men  like  us,  and  our  riches  come  from  them ;  but 
others  arrogantly  exclaimed :  It  would  be  a  shame,  an  infamy, 
for  us  to  mingle  with  the  crowd ;  they  are  born  to  serve  us. 
Are  we  not  men  of  another  race — the  noble  and  pure  de- 
scendants of  the  conquerors  of  this  empire  ?  This  multitude 
must  be  reminded  of  our  rights  and  its  own  origin. 

THE  NOBLES. —  People !  know  you  not  that  our  ancestors 
conquered  this  land,  and  that  your  race  was  spared  only  on 
condition  of  serving  us  ?  This  is  our  social  compact !  this  the 
government  constituted  by  custom  and  prescribed  by  time. 

PEOPLE. —  O  conquerors,  pure  of  blood  !  show  us  your 
genealogies !  we  shall  then  see  if  what  in  an  individual  is 
robbery  and  plunder,  can  be  virtuous  in  a  nation. 

And  forthwith,  voices  were  heard  in  every  quarter  calling 
out  the  nobles  by  their  names  ;  and  relating  their  origin  and 
parentage^  they  told  how  the  grandfather,  great-grandfather, 
or  even  father,  born  traders  and  mechanics,  after  acquiring 
wealth  in  every  way,  had  purchased  their  nobility  for  money  : 
so  that  but  very  few  families  were  really  of  the  original  stock. 
See,  said  these  voices,  see  these  purse-proud  commoners  who 
deny  their  parents  !  see  these  plebian  recruits  who  look  upon 
themselves  as  illustrious  veterans  !  and  peals  of  laughter  were 
heard. 

And  the  civil  governors  said :  these  people  are  mild,  and 
naturally  servile  ;  speak  to  them  of  the  king  and  of  the  law, 
and  they  will  return  to  their  duty.  People  !  the  king  wills,  the 
sovereign  ordains ! 

PEOPLE. — The  king  can  will  nothing  but  the  good  of  the 
people  ;  the  sovereign  can  only  ordain  according  to  law. 

CIVIL  GOVERNORS. — The  law  commands  you  to  be  sub- 
missive. 

PEOPLE. — The  law  is  the  general  will;  and  we  will  a  new 
order  of  things. 

CIVIL  GOVERNORS. — You  are  then  a  rebel  people. 

PEOPLE. — A  nation  cannot  revolt ;  tyrants  only  are  rebels. 

CIVIL  GOVERNORS. — The  king  is  on  our  side  ;  he  commands 
you  to  submit. 


66  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

PEOPLE. — Kings  are  inseperable  from  their  nations.  Our 
king  cannot  be  with  you  ;  you  possess  only  his  phantom. 

And  the  military  governors  came  forward.  The  people  are 
timorous,  said  they  ;  we  must  threaten  them  ;  they  will  sub- 
mit only  to  force.  Soldiers,  chastise  this  insolent  multitude. 

PEOPLE. — Soldiers,  you  are  of  our  blood !  Will  you  strike 
your  brothers,  your  relatives  ?  If  the  people  perish  who  will 
nourish  the  army  ? 

And  the  soldiers,  grounding  their  arms,  said  to  the  chiefs  : 
We  are  likewise  the  people ;  show  us  the  enemy ! 

Then  the  ecclesiastical  governors  said :  There  is  but  one 
resource  left.  The  people  are  superstitious ;  we  must  frighten 
them  with  the  names  of  God  and  religion. 

Our  dear  brethren!  our  children!  God  has  ordained  us  to 
govern  you. 

PEOPLE. — Show  us  your  credentials  from  God ! 

PRIESTS. — You  must  have  faith ;  reason  leads  astray. 

PEOPLE. —  Do  you  govern  without  reason  ? 

PRIESTS. —  God  commands  peace!  Religion  prescribes 
obedience. 

PEOPLE. —  Peace  supposes  justice.  Obedience  implies  con- 
viction of  a  duty. 

PRIESTS. — Suffering  is  the  business  of  this  world. 

PEOPLE. — Show  us  the  example.  .t  '-, 

PRIESTS. — Would  you  live  without  gods  or  kings  ? 

PEOPLE. — We  would  live  without  oppressors. 

PRIESTS. — You  must  have  mediators,  intercessors. 

PEOPLE. — Mediators  with  God  and  with  the  king!  courtiers 
and  priests,  your  services  are  too  expensive :  we  will  hence- 
forth manage  our  own  affairs. 

And  the  little  group  said :  We  are  lost !  the  multitude  are 
enlightened. 

And  the  people  answered :  You  are  safe ;  since  we  are  en- 
lightened we  will  commit  no  violence ;  we  only  claim  our 
rights.  We  feel  resentments,  but  we  will  forget  them.  We 
were  slaves,  we  might  command;  but  we  only  wish  to  be  free, 
and  liberty  is  but  justice. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  67 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

A  FREE  AND  LEGISLATIVE  PEOPLE. 

CONSIDERING  that  all  public  power  was  now  sus- 
pended, and  that  the  habitual  restraint  of  the  people 
had  suddenly  ceased,  I  shuddered  with  the  apprehen- 
sion that  they  would  fall  into  the  dissolution  of  anarchy.  But, 
taking  their  affairs  into  immediate  deliberation,  they  said: 

It  is  not  enough  that  we  have  freed  ourselves  from  tyrants 
.and  parasites  ;  we  must  prevent  their  return.  We  are  men, 
and  experience  has  abundantly  taught  us  that  every  man  is 
fond  of  power,  and  wishes  to  enjoy  it  at  the  expense  of  others. 
It  is  necessary,  then,  to  guard  against  a  propensity  which  is 
the  source  of  discord ;  we  must  establish  certain  rules  of  duty 
and  of  right.  But  the  knowledge  of  our  rights,  and  the  esti- 
mation of  our  duties,  are  so  abstract  and  difficult  as  to  require 
all  the  time  and  all  the  faculties  of  a  man.  Occupied  in  our 
own  affairs,  we  have  not  leisure  for  these  studies ;  nor  can 
we  exercise  these  functions  in  our  own  persons.  Let  us 
choose,  then,  among  ourselves,  such  persons  as  are  capable 
of  this  employment.  To  them  we  will  delegate  our  powers 
to  institute  our  government  and  laws.  They  shall  be  the  rep- 
resentatives of  our  wills  and  of  our  interests.  And  in  order 
to  attain  the  fairest  representation  possible  of  our  wills  and 
our  interests,  let  it  be  numerous,  and  composed  of  men  re- 
sembling ourselves. 

Having  made  the  election  of  a  numerous  body  of  delegates, 
the  people  thus  addressed  them : 

We  have  hitherto  lived  in  a  society  formed  by  chance,  with- 
out fixed  agreements,  without  free  conventions,  without  a 
stipulation  of  rights,  without  reciprocal  engagements, —  and  a 
multitude  of  disorders  and  evils  have  arisen  from  this  pre- 
carious state.  We  are  now  determined  on  forming  a  regular 
compact ;  and  we  have  chosen  you  to  adjust  the  articles. 
Examine,  then,  with  care  what  ought  to  be  its  basis  and  its 
conditions;  consider  what  is  the  end  and  the  principles  of 


68  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

every  association ;  recognize  the  rights  which  every  member 
brings,  the  powers  which  he  delegates,  and  those  which  he 
reserves  to  himself.  Point  out  to  us  the  rules  of  conduct  — 
the  basis  of  just  and  equitable  laws.  Prepare  for  us  a  new 
system  of  government ;  for  we  realize  that  the  one  which  has 
hitherto  guided  us  is  corrupt.  Our  fathers  have  wandered  in 
the  paths  of  ignorance,  and  habit  has  taught  us  to  follow  in 
their  footsteps.  Everything  has  been  done  by  fraud,  violence, 
and  delusion ;  and  the  true  laws  of  morality  and  reason  are 
still  obscure.  Clear  up,  then,  their  chaos ;  trace  out  their 
connection ;  publish  their  code,  and  we  will  adopt  it. 

And  the  people  raised  a  large  throne,  in  the  form  of  a  pyra- 
mid, and  seating  on  it  the  men  they  had  chosen,  said  to  them  : 

We  raise  you  to-day  above  us,  that  you  may  better  discover 
the  whole  of  our  relations,  and  be  above  the  reach  of  our 
passions.  But  remember  that  you  are  our  fellow-citizens  ;  that 
the  power  we  confer  on  you  is  our  own  ;  that  we  deposit  it  with 
you,  buLnot  as  a  property  or_a_heritage ;  that  you  must  be  the 
first  to  obey  the  laws  you  make ;  that  to-morrow  you  redescend 
among  us,  and  that  you  will  have  acquired  no  other  right  but 
that  of  our  esteem  and  gratitude.  And  consider  what  a  tribute 
of  glory  the  world,  which  reveres  so  many  apostles  of  error, 
will  bestow  on  the  first  assembly  of  rational  men,  who  shall 
have  declared  the  unchangeable  principles  of  justice,  and  con- 
secrated, in  the  face  of  tyrants,  the  rights  of  nations. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

UNIVERSAL  BASIS  OF  ALL  RIGHT  AND  ALL  LAW. 

E  men  chosen  by  the  people  to  investigate  the  true 
principles  of  morals  and  of  reason  then  proceeded  in 
the  sacred  object  of  their  mission;  and,  after  a  long 
examination,  having  discovered  a  fundamental  and  universal 
principle,  a  legislator  arose  and  said  to  the  people : 

Here   is  the  primordial  basis,  the  physical  origin  of  all 
justice  and  of  all  right. 

Whatever  be  the  active  power,  the  moving  cause,  that 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  69 

governs  the  universe,  since  it  has  given  to  all  men  the  same 
organs,  the  same  sensations,  and  the  same  wants,  it  has  there- 
by declared  that  it  has  given  to  all  the  same  right  to  the  use 
of  its  treasures,  and  that  all  men  are  equal  in  the  order  of 
nature. 

And,  since  this  power  has  given  to  each  man  the  neces- 
sary means  of  preserving  his  own  existence,  it  is  evident 
that  it  has  constituted  them  all  independent  one  of  another ; 
that  it  has  created  them  free ;  that  no  one  is  subject  to  another ; 
that  each  one  is  absolute  proprietor  of  his  own  person. 

Equality  and  liberty  are,  therefore,  two  essential  attributes 
of  man,  two  laws  of  the  Divinity,  constitutional  and  un- 
changeable, like  the  physical  properties  of  matter. 

Now,  every  individual  being  absolute  master  of  his  own 
person,  it  follows  that  a  full  and  free  consent  is  a  condition 
indispensable  to  all  contracts  and  all  engagements. 

•Again,  since  each  individual  is  equal  to  another,  it  follows 
that  the  balance  of  what  is  received  and  of  what  is  given, 
should  be  strictly  in  equilibrium ;  so  that  the  idea  of  justice, 
of  equity,  necessarily  imports  that  of  equality.* 

Equality  and  liberty  are  therefore  the  physical  and  unalter- 
able basis  of  every  union  of  men  in  society,  and  of  course  the 
necessary  and  generating  principle  of  every  law  and  of  every 
system  of  regular  government/}" 

A  disregard  of  this  basis  has  introduced  in  your  nation,  and 
in  every  other,  those  disorders  which  have  finally  roused  you. 
It  is  by  returning  to  this  rule  that  you  may  reform  them,  and 
reorganize  a  happy  order  of  society. 

But  observe,  this  reorganization  will  occasion  a  violent 
shock  in  your  habits,  your  fortunes,  and  your  prejudices. 
Vicious  contracts  and  abusive  claims  must  'be  dissolved, 

*  The  etymology  of  the  words  themselves  trace  out  to  us  this  connection  : 
equilibrium,  egualitas,  equitas,  are  all  of  one  family,  and  the  physical  idea  of 
equality,  in  the  scales  of  a  balance,  is  the  source  and  type  of  all  the  rest. 

t  In  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  there  is  an  inversion  of  ideas  in  the  first  article, 
liberty  being  placed  before  equality,  from  which  it  in  reality  springs.  This  defect 
is  not  to  be  wondered  at ;  the  science  of  the  rights  of  man  is  a  new  science  :  it  was 
invented  yesterday  by  the  Americans,  to-day  the  French  are  perfecting  it,  but 
there  yet  remains  a  great  deal  to  be  done.  In  the  ideas  that  constitute  it  there  is 
a  genealogical  order  which,  from  its  basis,  physical  equality,  to  the  minutest  and 
most  remote  branches  of  government,  ought  to  proceed  in  an  uninterrupted  series 
of  inferences. 


70  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

unjust  distinctions  and  ill  founded  property  renounced  ;  you 
must  indeed  recur  for  a  moment  to  a  state  of  nature.  Con- 
sider whether  you  can  consent  to  so  many  sacrifices. 

Then,  reflecting  on  the  cupidity  inherent  in  the  heart  of 
man,  I  thought  that  this  people  would  renounce  all  ideas  of 
amelioration. 

But,  in  a  moment,  a  great  number  of  men,  advancing  toward 
the  pyramid,  made  a  solemn  abjuration  of  all  their  distinctions 
and  all  their  riches. 

Establish  for  us,  said  they,  the  laws  of  equality  and  liberty ; 
we  will  possess  nothing  in  future  but  on  the  title  of  justice. 

Equality,  liberty,  justice, —  these  shall  be  our  code,  and  shall 
be  written  on  our  standards. 

And  the  people  immediately  raised  a  great  standard,  in- 
scribed with  these  three  words,  in  three  different  colors. 
They  displayed  it  over  the  pyramid  of  the  legislators,  and  for 
the  first  time  the  flag  of  universal  justice  floated  on  the  face 
of  the  earth. 

And  the  people  raised  before  the  pyramid  a  new  altar,  on 
which  they  placed  a  golden  balance,  a  sword,  and  a  book  with 
this  inscription : 

TO   EQUAL  LAW,   WHICH   JUDGES   AND  PROTECTS. 

And  having  surrounded  the  pyramid  and  the  altar  with  a 
vast  amphitheatre,  all  the  people  took  their  seats  to  hear  the 
publication  of  the  law.  And  millions  of  men,  raising  at  once 
their  hands  to  heaven,  took  the  solemn  oath  to  live  equal, 
free,  and  just ;  to  respect  their  reciprocal  properties  and 
rights  ;  to  obey  the  law  and  its  regularly  chosen  repre- 
sentatives. 

A  spectacle  so  impressive  and  sublime,  so  replete  with 
generous  emotions,  moved  me  to  tears  ;  and  addressing  my- 
self to  the  Genius,  I  exclaimed:  Let  me  now  live,  for  in  future 
I  have  everything  to  hope. 


THE   RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  71 

CHAPTER   XVIII. 

CONSTERNATION  AND  CONSPIRACY  OF    TYRANTS. 

BUT  scarcely  had  the  solemn  voice  of  liberty  and  equality 
resounded  through  the  earth,  when  a  movement  of 
confusion,  of  astonishment,  arose  in  different  nations. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  people,  warmed  with_desire,  but  waver- 
ing  between  hope  and  fear,  between  the  sentiment  of  right 
JUK!_  the  habit  of  obediencjT  began  to  be  in  motion.  The 
kings,  on  the  other  hand,  suddenly  awakened  from  the  sleep 
of  indolence  and  despotism,  were  alarmed  for  the  safety  of 
their  thrones ;  while,  on  all  sides,  those  clans  of  civil  and 
religious  tyrants,  who  deceive  kings  and  oppress  the  people, 
were  seized  with  rage  and  consternation ;  and,  concerting 
their  perfidious  plans,  they  said :  Woe  to  us,  if  this  fatal  cry 
of  liberty  comes  to  the  ears  of  the  multitude!  Woe  to  us,  if 
this  pernicious  spirit  of  justice  be  propagated ! 

And,  pointing  to  the  floating  banner,  they  continued : 
Consider  what  a  swarm  of  evils  are  included  in  these  three 
words !  If  all  men  are  equal,  where  is  our  exclusive  right  to 
honors  and  to  power  ?  If  all  men  are  to  be  free,  what  be- 
comes of  our  slaves,  our  vassals,  our  property  ?  If  all  are 
equal  in  the  civil  state,  where  is  our  prerogative  of  birth,  of 
inheritance  ?  and  what  becomes  of  nobility  ?  If  they  are  all 
equal  in  the  sight  of  God,  what  need  of  mediators  ?  —  where 
is  the  priesthood  ?  Let  us  hasten,  then,  to  destroy  a  germ  so 
prolific,  and  so  contagious.  We  must  employ  all  our  cunning 
against  this  innovation.  We  must  frighten  the  kings,  that 
they  may  join  us  in  the  cause.  We  must  divide  the  people  by 
national  jealousies,  and  occupy  them  with  commotions,  wars, 
and  conquests.  They  must  be  alarmed  at  the  power  of  this 
free  nation.  Let  us  form  a  league  against  the  common  enemy, 
demolish  that  sacrilegious  standard,  overturn  that  throne  of 
rebellion,  and  stifle  in  its  birth  the  flame  of  revolution. 

And,  indeed,  the  civil  and  religious  tyrants  of  nations  formed 
a  general  combination ;  and,  multiplying  their  followers  by 
force  and  seduction,  they  marched  in  hostile  array  against 


7*  THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

the  free  nation ;  and,  surrounding  the  altar  and  the  pyramid 
of  natural  law,  they  demanded  with  loud  cries  : 

What  is  this  new  and  heretical  doctrine  ?  what  this  impious 
altar,  this  sacrilegious  worship?  True  believers  and  loyal 
subjects  !  can  you  suppose  that  truth  has  been  first  discovered 
to-day,  and  that  hitherto  you  have  been  walking  in  error  ? 
that  those  men,  more  fortunate  than  you,  have  the  sole 
privilege  of  wisdom  ?  And  you,  rebel  and  misguided  nation, 
perceive  you  not  that  your  new  leaders  are  misleading  you  ? 
that  they  destroy  the  principles  of  your  faith,  and  overturn  the 
religion  of  your  ancestors  ?  Ah,  tremble !  lest  the  wrath  of 
heaven  should  kindle  against  you;  and  hasten  by  speedy 
repentance  to  retrieve  your  error. 

But,  inaccessible  to  seduction  as  well  as  to  fear,  the  free 
nation  kept  silence,  and  rising  universally  in  arms,  assumed 
an  imposing  attitude. 

And  the  legislator  said  to  the  chiefs  of  nations : 

If  while  we  walked  with  a  bandage  on  our  eyes  the  light 
guided  our  steps,  why,  since  we  are  no  longer  blindfold,  should 
it  fly  from  our  search  ?  If  guides,  who  teach  mankind  to  see 
for  themselves,  mislead  and  deceive  them,  what  can  be  ex- 
pected from  those  who  profess  to  keep  them  in  darkness  ? 

But  hark,  ye  leaders  of  nations !  If  you  possess  the  truth, 
show  it  to  us,  and  we  will  receive  it  with  gratitude,  for  we 
seek  it  with  ardor,  and  have  a  great  interest  in  finding  it. 
We  are  men,  and  liable  to  be  deceived ;  but  you  are  also  men, 
and  equally  fallible.  Aid  us  then  in  this  labyrinth,  where  the 
human  race  has  wandered  for  so  many  ages ;  help  us  to  dis- 
sipate the  illusion  of  so  many  prejudices  and  vicious  habits. 
Amid  the  shock  of  so  many  opinions  which  dispute  for  our 
acceptance,  assist  us  in  discovering  the  proper  and  distinctive 
character  of  truth.  Let  us  this  day  terminate  the  long  combat 
with  error.  Let  us  establish  between*  it  and  truth  a  solemn 
contest,  to  which  we  will  invite  the  opinions  of  men  of  all  - 

nations.  Let  us  convoke  a  general  assembly  of  the  nations.-*  ^  » 
Let  them  be  judges  in  their  own  cause ;  and  in  the  debate  of 
all  systems,  let  no  champion,  no  argument,  be  wanting,  either 
on  the  side  of  prejudice  or  of  reason  ;  and  let  the  sentiment 
of  a  general  and  common  mass  of  evidence  give  birth  to  a 
universal  concord  of  opinions  and  of  hearts. 


THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES.  73 

CHAPTER    XIX. 

GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  THE  NATIONS. 

THUS  spoke  the  legislator ;  and  the  multitude,  seized  with 
those  emotions  which  a  reasonable  proposition  always 
inspires,  expressed  its  applause ;  while  the  tyrants,  left 
without  support,  were  overwhelmed  with  confusion. 

A  scene  of  a  new  and  astonishing  nature  then  opened  to 
my  view.  All  that  the  earth  contains  of  people  and  of  nations  ; 
men  of  every  race  and  of  every  region,  converging  from  their 
various  climates,  seemed  to  assemble  in  one  allotted  place  ; 
where,  forming  an  immense  congress,  distinguished  in  groups 
by  the  vast  variety  of  their  dresses,  features,  and  complexion, 
the  numberless  multitude  presented  a  most  unusual  and 
affecting  sight. 

On  one  side  I  saw  the  European,  with  his  short  close  coat, 
pointed  triangular  hat,  smooth  chin,  and  powdered  hair  ;  on 
the  other  side  the  Asiatic,  with  a  flowing  robe,  long  beard, 
shaved  head,  and  round  turban.  Here  stood  the  nations  of 
Africa,  with  their  ebony  skins,  their  woolly  hair,  their  body 
girt  with  white  and  blue  tissues  of  bark,  adorned  with  brace- 
lets and  necklaces  of  coral,  shells,  and  glass  ;  there  the  tribes 
of  the  north,  enveloped  in  their  leathern  bags ;  the  Laplander, 
with  his  pointed  bonnet  and  his  snow-shoes  ;  the  Samoyede, 
with  his  feverish  body  and  strong  odor ;  the  Tongouse,  with 
his  horned  cap,  and  carrying  his  idols  pendant  from  his  neck  ; 
the  Yakoute,  with  his  freckled  face  ;  the  Kalmuc,  with  his 
flat  nose  and  little  retorted  eyes.  Farther  distant  were  the 
Chinese,  attired  in  silk,  with  their  hair  hanging  in  tresses ;  the 
Japanese,  of  mingled  race ;  the  Malays,  with  wide-spreading 
ears,  rings  in  their  noses,  and  palm-leaf  hats  of  vast  circum- 
ference ;  *  and  the  tattooed  races  of  the  isles  of  the  southern 
ocean  and  of  the  continent  of  the  antipodes.f  The  view  of 

*  This  species  of  the  palm-tree  is  called  Latanier.  Its  leaf,  similar  to  a  fan- 
mount,  grows  upon  a  stalk  issuing  directly  from  the  earth.  A  specimen  may  be 
seen  in  the  botanic  garden. 

t  The  country  of  the  Papons  of  New  Guinea. 


74  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

*so  many  varieties  of  the  same  species,  of  so  many  extravagant 
|  inventions  of  the  same  understanding,  and  of  so  many  modifi- 
cations of  the  same  organization,  affected  me  with  a  thousand 
feelings  and  a  thousand  thoughts.*  I  contemplated  with  as- 
tonishment this  gradation  of  color,  which,  passing  from  a 
bright  carnation  to  a  light  brown,  a  deeper  brown,  dusky, 
bronze,  olive,  leaden,  copper,  ends  in  the  black  of  ebony  and 
of  jet.  And  finding  the  Cassimerian,  with  his  rosy  cheek, 
I  next  to  the  sun-burnt  Hindoo,  and  the  Georgian  by  the  side 
of  the  Tartar,  I  reflected  on  the  effects  of  climate  hot  or  cold, 
of  soil  high  or  low,  marshy  or  dry,  open  or  shaded.  I  com- 
pared the  dwarf  of  the  pole  with  the  giant  of  the  temperate 
zones,  the  slender  body  of  the  Arab  with  the  ample  chest  of 
the  Hollander ;  the  squat  figure  of  the  Samoyede  with  the 
elegant  form  of  the  Greek  and  the  Sclavonian ;  the  greasy 
black  wool  of  the  Negro  with  the  bright  silken  locks  of  the 
Dane ;  the  broad  face  of  the  Kalmuc,  his  little  angular  eyes 

i     and  flattened  nose,  with  the  oval  prominent  visage,  large  blue 

'  eyes,  and  aquiline  nose  of  the  Circassian  and  Abazan.  I  con- 
trasted the  brilliant  calicoes  of  the  Indian,  the  well-wrought 
stuffs  of  the  European,  the  rich  furs  of  the  Siberian,  with  the 
tissues  of  bark,  of  osiers,  leaves  and  feathers  of  savage  nations ; 
and  the  blue  figures  of  serpents,  flowers,  and  stars,  with 

\  which  they  painted  their  bodies.  Sometimes  the  variegated 
appearance  of  this  multitude  reminded  me  of  the  enamelled 
meadows  of  the  Nile  and  the  Euphrates,  when,  after  rains  or 
inundations,  millions  of  flowers  are  rising  on  every  side. 
Sometimes  their  murmurs  and  their  motions  called  to  mind 
the  numberless  swarms  of  locusts  which,  issuing  from  the 

v\  desert,  cover  in  the  spring  the  plains  of  Hauran. 

*  A  hall  of  costumes  in  one  of  the  galleries  of  the  Louvre  would,  in  every  point 
of  view,  be  an  interesting  establishment.  It  would  furnish  an  admirable  treat  to 
the  curiosity  of  a  great  number  of  persons,  excellent  models  to  the  artist,  and 
useful  subjects  of  meditation  to  the  physician,  the  philosopher  and  the  legislator. 

Picture  to  yourself  a  collection  of  the  various  faces  and  figures  of  every 
country  and  nation,  exhibiting  accurately,  color,  features  and  form ;  what  a 
field  for  investigation  and  enquiry  as  to  the  influence  of  climate,  customs,  food, 
etc.  It  might  truly  be  called  the  science  of  man  !  Buffon  has  attempted  a 
chapter  of  this  nature,  but  it  only  serves  to  exhibit  more  strikingly  our  actual 
ignorance.  Such  a  collection  is  said  to  have  been  begun  at  St.  Petersburg,  but  it 
is  also  said  at  the  same  time  to  be  as  imperfect  as  the  vocabulary  of  the  three 
hundred  languages.  The  enterprise  would  be  worthy  of  the  French  nation. 


THE   RUINS  OF   EMPIRES.  75 

At  the  sight  of  so  many  rational  beings,  considering  on  the 
one  hand  the  immensity  of  thoughts  and  sensations  assembled 
in  this  place,  and  on  the  other  hand,  reflecting  on  the  opposi- 
tion of  so  many  opinions,  and  the  shock  of  so  many  passions 
of  men  so  capricious,  I  struggled  between  astonishment,  ad- 
miration, and  secret  dread  —  when  the  legislator  commanded 
silence,  and  attracted  all  my  attention. 

Inhabitants  of  earth !  a  free  and  powerful  nation  addresses 
you  with  words  of  justice  and  peace,  and  she  offers  you  the 
sure  pledges  of  her  intentions  in  her  own  conviction  and  ex- 
perience. Long  afflicted  with  the  same  evils  as  yourselves, 
we  sought  for  their  source,  and  found  them  all  derived  from 
violence  and  injustice,  erected  into  law  by  the  inexperience 
of  past  ages,  and  maintained  by  the  prejudices  of  the  present. 
Then  abolishing  our  artificial  and  arbitrary  institutions,  and 
recurring  to  the  origin  of  all  right  and  reason,  we  have  found 
that  there  existed  in  the  very  order  of  nature  and  in  the  phys- 
ical constitution  of  man,  eternal  and  immutable  laws,  which 
only  waited  his  observance  to  render  him  happy. 

O  men !  cast  your  eyes  on  the  heavens  that  give  you  light, 
and  on  the  earth  that  gives  you  bread !  Since  they  offer  the 
same  bounties  to  you  all — since  from  the  power  that  gives 
them  motion  you  have  all  received  the  same  life,  the  same 
organs,  have  you  not  likewise  all  received  the  same  right  to 
enjoy  its  benefits  ?  Has  it  not  hereby  declared  you  all  equal 
and  free  ?  What  mortal  shall  dare  refuse  to  his  fellow  that 
which  nature  gives  him  ?  > 

O  nations !  let  us  banish  all  tyranny  and  all  discord ;  let  us 
form  but  one  society,  one  great  family  ;  and,  since  human  na- 
ture has  but  one  constitution,  let  there  exist  in  future  but  one 
law,  that  of  nature — but  one  code,  that  of  reason — but  one 
throne,  that  of  justice— ^5ut  one  altar,  that  of  union.  1*  ttjt  fC~ 

He  ceased ;  and  an  immense  acclamation  resounded  to  the 
skies.  Ten  thousand  benedictions  announced  the  transports 
of  the  multitude ;  and  they  made  the  earth  re-echo  justice, 
equality  and  union. 

But  different  emotions  soon  succeeded;  soon  the  doctors 
and  the  chiefs  of  nations  exciting  a  spirit  of  dispute,  there 
was  heard  a  sullen  murmur,  which  growing  louder,  and 
spreading  from  group  to  group,  became  a  vast  disorder ;  and 


"j6  THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

each  nation  setting  up  exclusive  pretensions,  claimed  a 
preference  for  its  own  code  and  opinion. 

You  are  in  error,  said  the  parties,  pointing  one  to  the  other. 
We  alone  are  in  possession  of  reason  and  truth.  We  alone 
have  the  true  law,  the  real  rule  of  right  and  justice,  the  only 
means  of  happiness  and  perfection.  All  other  men  are  either 
blind  or  rebellious. 

And  great  agitation  prevailed. 

Then  the  legislator,  after  enforcing  silence,  loudly  ex- 
claimed : 

What,  O  people !  is  this  passionate  emotion  ?  Whither 
will  this  quarrel  conduct  you  ?  What  can  you  expect  from 
this  dissension  ?  The  earth  has  been  for  ages  a  field  of 
disputation,  and  you  have  shed  torrents  of  blood  in  your 
controversies.  What  have  you  gained  by  so  many  battles 
and  tears  ?  When  the  strong  has  subjected  the  weak  to  his 
opinion,  has  he  thereby  aided  the  cause  of  truth  ? 

O  nations !  take  counsel  of  your  own  wisdom.  When 
among  yourselves  disputes  arise  between  families  and  indi- 
viduals, how  do  you  reconcile  them?  Do  you  not  give 
them  arbitrators  ? 

Yes,  cried  the  whole  multitude. 

Do  so  then  to  the  authors  of  your  present  dissensions. 
Order  those  who  call  themselves  your  instructors,  and 
who  force  their  creeds  upon  you,  to  discuss  before  you  their 
reasons.  Since  they  appeal  to  your  interests,  inform  your- 
selves how  they  support  them. 

And  you,  chiefs  and  governors  of  the  people  !  before 
dragging  the  masses  into  the  quarrels  resulting  from  your 
diverse  opinions,  let  the  reasons  for  and  against  your  views  be 
given.  Let  us  establish  one  solemn  controversy,  one  public 
scrutiny  of  truth — not  before  the  tribunal  of  a  corruptible 
individual,  or  of  a  prejudiced  party,  but  in  the  grand  forum  of 
mankind — guarded  by  all  their  information  and  all  their 
interests.  Let  the  natural  sense  of  the  whole  human  race  be 
our  arbiter  and  judge. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  77 

CHAPTER    XX. 

THE  SEARCH  OF  TRUTH. 

rT"*HE  people  expressed  their  applause,  and  the  legislator 
continued :  To  proceed  with  order,  and  avoid  all  con- 
fusion, let  a  spacious  semicircle  be  left  vacant  in  front 
of  the  altar  of  peace  and  union  ;  let  each  system  of  religion, 
and  each  particular  sect,  erect  its  proper  distinctive  standard 
on  the  line  of  this  semicircle  ;  let  its  chiefs  and  doctors  place 
themselves  around  the  standard,  and  their  followers  form  a 
column  behind  them. 

The  semicircle  being  traced,  and  the  order  published,  there 
instantly  rose  an  innumerable  multitude  of  standards,  of  all 
colors  and  of  every  form,  like  what  we  see  in  a  great  com- 
mercial port,  when,  on  a  day  of  rejoicing,  a  thousand  different 
flags  and  streamers  are  floating  from  a  forest  of  masts. 

At  the  sight  of  this  prodigious  diversity,  I  turned  towards 
the  Genius  and  said : 

I  thought  that  the  earth  was  divided  only  into  eight  or  ten 
systems  of  faith,  and  I  then  despaired  of  a  reconciliation ;  I 
now  behold  thousands  of  different  sects,  and  how  can  I  hope 
for  concord  ? 

But  these,  replied  the  Genius,  are  not  all ;  and  yet  they  will 
be  intolerant ! 

Then,  as  the  groups  advanced  to  take  their  stations,  he 
pointed  out  to  me  their  distinctive  marks,  and  thus  began  to 
explain  their  characters : 

That  first  group,  said  he,  with  a  green  banner  bearing  a 
crescent,  a  bandage,  and  a  sabre,  are  the  followers  of  the 
Arabian  prophet.  To  say  there  is  a  God,  without  knowing 
what  he  is  ;  to  believe  the  words  of  a  man,  without  under- 
standing his  language  ;  to  go  into  the  desert  to  pray  to  God, 
who  is  everywhere ;  to  wash  the  hands  with  water,  and  not 
abstain  from  blood ;  to  fast  all  day,  and  eat  all  night ;  to 
give  alms  of  their  own  goods,  and  to  plunder  those  of  others  ; 
such  are  the  means  of  perfection  instituted  by  Mahomet  — 


78  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

such  are  the  symbols  of  his  followers  ;  and  whoever  does  not 
bear  them  is  a  reprobate,  stricken  with  anathema,  and  devoted 
to  the  sword. 

A  God  of  clemency,  the  author  of  life,  has  instituted  these 
laws  of  oppression  and  murder :  he  made  them  for  all  the 
world,  but  has  revealed  them  only  to  one  man ;  he  established 
them  from  all  eternity,  though  he  made  them  known  but 
yesterday.  These  laws  are  abundantly  sufficient  for  all  pur- 
poses, and  yet  a  volume  is  added  to  them.  This  volume  was 
to  diffuse  light,  to  exhibit  evidence,  to  lead  men  to  perfection 
and  happiness  ;  and  yet  every  page  was  so  full  of  obscurities, 
ambiguities,  and  contradictions,  that  commentaries  and  ex- 
planations became  necessary,  even  in  the  life-time  of  its 
apostle.  Its  interpreters,  differing  in  opinion,  divided  into 
opposite  and  hostile  sects.  One  maintains  that  AH  is  the 
true  successor  ;  the  other  contends  for  Omar  and  Aboubekre. 
This  denies  the  eternity  of  the  Koran ;  that  the  necessity  of 
ablutions  and  prayers.  The  Carmite  forbids  pilgrimages, 
and  allows  the  use  of  wine ;  the  Hakemite  preaches  the  trans- 
migration of  souls.  Thus  they  make  up  the  number  of 
seventy-two  sects,  whose  banners  are  before  you.*  In  this 
contestation,  every  one  attributing  the  evidence  of  truth  ex- 
clusively to  himself,  and  taxing  all  others  with  heresy  and 
rebellion,  turns  against  them  its  sanguinary  zeal.  And  their 
religion,  which  celebrates  a  mild  and  merciful  God,  the  com- 
mon father  of  all  men, —  changed  to  a  torch  of  discord,  a  signal 
for  war  and  murder,  has  not  ceased  for  twelve  hundred  years 
to  deluge  the  earth  in  blood,  and  to  ravage  and  desolate  the 
ancient  hemisphere  from  centre  to  circumference.f 

Those  men,  distinguished  by  their  enormous  white  turbans, 
their  broad  sleeves,  and  their  long  rosaries,  are  the  Imans,  the 

*  The  Mussulmen  enumerate  in  common  seventy-two  sects,  but  I  read,  while  I 
resided  among  them,  a  work  which  gave  an  account  of  more  than  eighty, — all 
equally  wise  and  important. 

f  Read  the  history  of  Islamism  by  its  own  writers,  and  you  will  be  convinced 
that  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  the  wars  which  have  desolated  Asia  and  Africa, 
since  the  days  of  Mahomet,  has  been  the  apostolical  fanaticism  of  its  doctrine. 
Cassar  has  been  supposed  to  have  destroyed  three  millions  of  men  :  it  would  be 
interesting  to  make  a  similar  calculation  respecting  every  founder  of  a  religious 
system. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  79 

Mollas,  and  the  Muftis ;  and  near  them  are  the  Dervishes  with 
pointed  bonnets,  and  the  Santons  with  dishevelled  hair.  Be- 
hold with  what  vehemence  they  recite  their  professions  of 
faith !  They  are  now  beginning  a  dispute  about  the  greater 
and  lesser  impurities., —  about  the  matter  and  the  manner  of 
ablutions,—  about  the  attributes  of  God  and  his  perfections, — 
about  the  Chaitan,  and  the  good  and  wicked  angels, — about 
death,  the  resurrection,  the  interrogatory  in  the  tomb,  the 
judgment,  the  passage  of  the  narrow  bridge  not  broader  than 
a  hair,  the  balance  of  works,  the  pains  of  hell,  and  the  joys  of 
paradise. 

Next  to  these,  that  second  more  numerous  group,  with 
white  banners  intersected  with  crosses,  are  the  followers  of 
Jesus.  Acknowledging  the  same  God  with  the  Mussulmans, 
founding  their  belief  on  the  same  books,  admitting,  like  them, 
a  first  man  who  lost  the  human  race  by  eating  an  apple,  they 
hold  them,  however,  in  a  holy  abhorrence  ;  and,  out  of  pure 
piety,  they  call  each  other  impious  blasphemers. 

The  great  point  of  their  dissension  consists  in  this,  that 
after  admitting  a  God  one  and  indivisible,  the  Christian  divides 
him  into  three  persons,  each  of  which  he  believes  to  be  a 
complete  and  entire  God,  without  ceasing  to  constitute  an 
identical  whole,  by  the  indivisibility  of  the  three.  And  he 
adds,  that  this  being,  who  fills  the  universe,  has  reduced 
himself  to  the  body  of  a  man  ;  and  has  assumed  material, 
perishable,  and  limited  organs,  without  ceasing  to  be  imma- 
terial, infinite,  and  eternal.  The  Mussulman,  who  does  not 
comprehend  these  mysteries,  rejects  them  as  follies,  and  the 
visions  of  a  distempered  brain  ;  though  he  conceives  perfectly 
well  the  eternity  of  the  Koran,  and  the  mission  of  the  prophet : 
hence  their  implacable  hatreds. 

Again,  the  Christians,  divided  among  themselves  on  many 
points,  have  formed  parties  not  less  violent  than  the  Mussul- 
mans ;  and  their  quarrels  are  so  much  the  more  obstinate,  as 
the  objects  of  them  are  inaccessible  to  the  senses,  and  in- 
capable of  demonstration :  their  opinions,  therefore,  have  no 
other  basis  but  the  will  and  caprice  of  the  parties.  Thus, 
while  they  agree  that  God  is  a  being  incomprehensible  and 
unknown,  they  dispute,  nevertheless,  about  his  essence,  his 


80  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

mode  of  acting,  and  his  attributes.  While  they  agree  that  his 
pretended  transformation  into  man  is  an  enigma  above  the 
human  understanding,  they  dispute  on  the  junction  or  dis- 
tinction of  his  two  wills  and  his  two  natures,  on  his  change 
of  substance,  on  the  real  or  fictitious  presence,  on  the  mode 
of  incarnation,  etc. 

Hence  those  innumerable  sects,  of  which  two  or  three 
hundred  have  already  perished,  and  three  or  four  hundred 
others,  which  still  subsist,  display  those  numberless  banners 
which  here  distract  your  sight. 

The  first  in  order,  surrounded  by  a  group  in  varied  and 
fantastic  dress,  that  confused  mixture  of  violet,  red,  white, 
black  and  speckled  garments  —  with  heads  shaved,  or  with 
tonsures,  or  with  short  hair  —  with  red  hats,  square  bonnets, 
pointed  mitres,  or  long  beards,  is  the  standard  of  the  Roman 
pontiff,  who,  uniting  the  civil  government  to  the  priesthood, 
has  erected  the  supremacy  of  his  city  into  a  point  of  religion, 
and  made  of  his  pride  an  article  of  faith. 

On  his  right  you  see  the  Greek  pontiff,  who,  proud  of  the 
rivalship  of  his  metropolis,  sets  up  equal  pretensions,  and 
supports  them  against  the  Western  church  by  the  priority  of 
that  of  the  East.  On  the  left  are  the  standards  of  two  recent 
chiefs,*  who,  shaking  off  a  yoke  that  had  become  tyrannical, 
have  raised  altar  against  altar  in  their  reform,  and  wrested 
half  of  Europe  from  the  pope.  Behind  these  are  the  subaltern 
sects,  subdivided  from  the  principal  divisions,  the  Nestorians, 
the  Eutycheans,  the  Jacobites,  the  Iconoclasts,  the  Anabap- 
tists, the  Presbyterians,  the  Wicliffites,  the  Osiandrians,  the 
Manicheans,  the  Pietists,  the  Adamites,  the  Contemplatives, 
the  Quakers,  the  Weepers,  and  a  hundred  others.f  all  of  dis- 
tinct parties,  persecuting  when  strong,  tolerant  when  weak, 
hating  each  other  in  the  name  of  a  God  of  peace,  forming 
each  an  exclusive  heaven  in  a  religion  of  universal  charity, 
dooming  each  other  to  pains  without  end  in  a  future  state, 
and  realizing  in  this  world  the  imaginary  hell  of  the  other. 

*  Luther  and  Calvin. 

t  Consult  upoti  this  subject  Dictionnaire  des  Htr sties  par  PAbbe  Pluquet,  in  two 
volumes  8vo. ;  a  work  admirably  calculated  to  inspire  the  mind  with  philosophy, 
in  the  sense  that  the  Lacedemonians  taught  the  children  temperance  by  showing 
to  them  the  drunken  Helots. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  8l 

After  this  group,  observing  a  lonely  standard  of  the  color 
of  hyacinth,  round  which  were  assembled  men  clad  in  all  the 
different  dresses  of  Europe  and  Asia : 

At  least,  said  I,  to  the  Genius,  we  shall  find  unanimity  here. 

Yes,  said  he,  at  first  sight  and  by  a  momentary  accident. 
Dost  thou  not  know  that  system  of  worship  ? 

Then,  perceiving  in  Hebrew  letters  the  monogram  of  the 
name  of  God,  and  the  palms  which  the  Rabbins  held  in  their 
hands : 

True,  said  I,  these  are  the  children  of  Moses,  dispersed  even 
to  this  day,  abhorring  every  nation,  and  abhorred  and  perse- 
cuted by  all. 

Yes,  he  replied,  and  for  this  reason,  that,  having  neither  the 
time  nor  liberty  to  dispute,  they  have  the  appearance  of  una- 
nimity. But  no  sooner  will  they  come  together,  compare 
their  principles,  and  reason  on  their  opinions,  than  they  will 
separate  as  formerly,  at  least  into  two  principal  sects  ;  *  one  of 
which,  taking  advantage  of  the  silence  of  their  legislator,  and 
adhering  to  the  literal  sense  of  his  books,  will  deny  everything 
that  is  not  clearly  expressed  therein ;  and  on  this  principle 
will  reject  as  profane  inventions,  the  immortality  of  the  soul, 
its  transmigration  to  places  of  pain  or  pleasure,  its  resur- 
rection, the  final  judgment,  the  good  and  bad  angels,  the 
revolt  of  the  evil  Genius,  and  all  the  poetical  belief  of  a  world 
to  come.  And  this  highly-favored  people,  whose  perfection 
consists  in  a  slight  mutilation  of  their  persons, — this  atom  of 
a  people,  which  forms  but  a  small  wave  in  the  ocean  of  man- 
kind, and  which  insists  that  God  has  made  nothing  but  for 
them,  will  by  its  schism  reduce  to  one-half,  its  present  trifling 
weight  in  the  scale  of  the  universe. 

He  then  showed  me  a  neighboring  group,  composed  of 
men  dressed  in  white  robes,  wearing  a  veil  over  their  mouths, 
and  ranged  around  a  banner  of  the  color  of  the  morning  sky, 
on  which  was 'painted  a  globe  cleft  in  two  hemispheres,  black 
and  white :  The  same  thing  will  happen,  said  he,  to  these 
children  of  Zoroaster.f  the  obscure  remnant  of  a  people  once 

•The  Sadducees  and  Pharisees. 

t  They  are  the  Parses,  better  known  by  the  opprobrious  name  of  Gaures  or 
Guebrcs,  another  word  for  infidels.  They  are  in  Asia  what  the  Jews  are  in 
Europe.  The  name  of  their  pope  or  high  priest  is  Mobed. 


82  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

so  powerful.  At  present,  persecuted  like  the  Jews,  and  dis- 
persed among  all  nations,  they  receive  without  discussion  the 
precepts  of  the  representative  of  their  prophet.  But  as  soon 
as  the  Mobed  and  the  Destours*  shall  assemble,  they  will 
renew  the  controversy  about  the  good  and  the  bad  principle ; 
on  the  combats  of  Ormuzd,  God  of  light,  and  Ahrimanes,  God 
of  darkness ;  on  the  direct  and  allegorical  sense  ;  on  the  good 
and  evil  Genii ;  on  the  worship  of  fire  and  the  elements ;  on 
impurities  and  ablutions  ;  on  the  resurrection  of  the  soul  and 
body,  or  only  of  the  soul ;  f  on  the  renovation  of  the  present 
world,  and  on  that  which  is  to  take  its  place.  And  the 
Parses  will  divide  into  sects,  so  much  the  more  numerous, 
as  their  families  will  have  contracted,  during  their  dispersion, 
the  manners  and  opinions  of  different  nations. 

Next  to  these,  remark  those  banners  of  an  azure  ground, 
painted  with  monstrous  figures  of  human  bodies,  double, 
triple,  and  quadruple,  with  heads  of  lions,  boars,  and  elephants, 
and  tails  of  fishes  and  tortoises  ;  these  are  the  ensigns  of  the 
sects  of  India,  who  find  their  gods  in  various  animals,  and 
the  souls  of  their  fathers  in  reptiles  and  insects.  These  men 
support  hospitals  for  hawks,  serpents,  and  rats,  and  they  abhor 
their  fellow  creatures!  They  purify  themselves  with  the 
dung  and  urine  of  cows,  and  think  themselves  defiled  by  the 
touch  of  a  man  !  They  wear  a  net  over  the  mouth,  lest,  in  a 
fly,  they  should  swallow  a  soul  in  a  state  of  penance,!  and 
they  can  see  a  Pariah \  perish  with  hunger!  They  acknowl- 
edge the  same  gods,  but  they  separate  into  hostile  bands. 

The  first  standard,  retired  from  the  rest,  bearing  a  figure 
with  four  heads,  is  that  of  Brama,  who,  though  the  creator  of 
the  universe,  is  without  temples  or  followers  ;  but,  reduced  to 

*  That  is  to  say,  their  priests.  See,  respecting  the  rites  of  this  religion,  Henry 
Lord  Hyde,  and  the  Zendavesta.  Their  costume  is  a  robe  with  a  belt  of  four 
knots,  and  a  veil  over  their  mouth  for  fear  of  polluting  the  fire  with  their  breath. 

t  The  Zoroastrians  are  divided  between  two  opinions ;  one  party  believing  that 
both  soul  and  body  will  rise,  the  other  that  it  will  be  the  soul  only.  The  Christians 
and  Mahometans  have  embraced  the  most  solid  of  the  two. 

I  According  to  the  system  of  the  Metempsychosis,  a  soul,  to  undergo  purifica- 
tion, passes  into  the  body  of  some  insect  or  animal.  It  is  of  importance  not  to 
disturb  this  penance,  as  the  work  must  in  that  case  begin  afresh. 

gThis  is  the  name  of  a  cast  or  tribe  reputed  unclean,  because  they  eat  of  what 
has  enjoyed  life. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  83 

serve  as  a  pedestal  to  the  Lingam,*  he  contents  himself  with 
a  little  water  which  the  Bramin  throws  every  morning  on  his 
shoulder,  reciting  meanwhile  an  idle  canticle  in  his  praise. 

The  second,  bearing  a  kite  with  a  scarlet  body  and  a  white 
head,  is  that  of  Vichenou,  who,  though  preserver  of  the  world, 
has  passed  part  of  his  life  inv  wicked  actions.  You  sometimes 
see  him  under  the  hideous  form  of  a  boar  or  a  lion,  tearing 
human  entrails,  or  under  that  of  a  horse.f  shortly  to  come 
armed  with  a  sword  to  destroy  the  human  race,  blot  out  the 
stars,  annihilate  the  planets,  shake  the  earth,  and  force  the 
great  serpent  to  vomit  a  fire  which  shall  consume  the 
spheres. 

The  third  is  that  of  Chiven,  God  of  destruction  and  desola- 
tion, who  has,  however,  for  his  emblem  the  symbol  of  gener- 
ation. He  is  the  most  wicked  of  the  three,  and  he  has  the 
most  followers.  These  men,  proud  of  his  character,  express 
in  their  devotions  to  him  their  contempt  for  the  other  gods,  $ 
his  equals  and  brothers  ;  and,  in  imitation  of  his  inconsisten- 
cies, while  they  profess  great  modesty  and  chastity,  they 
publicly  crown  with  flowers,  and  sprinkle  with  milk  and 
honey,  the  obscene  image  of  the  Lingam. 

In  the  rear  of  these,  approach  the  smaller  standards  of  a 
multitude  of  gods  —  male,  female,  and  hermaphrodite.  These 
are  friends  and  relations  of  the  principal  gods,  who  have 
passed  their  lives  in  wars  among  themselves,  and  their 
followers  imitate  them.  These  gods  have  need  of  nothing, 
and  they  are  constantly  receiving  presents  ;  they  are  omnipo- 
tent and  omnipresent,  and  a  priest,  by  muttering  a  few  words, 
shuts  them  up  in  an  idol  or  a  pitcher,  to  sell  their  favors 
for  his  own  benefit. 

Beyond  these,  that  cloud  of  standards,  which,  on  a  yellow 
ground,  common  to  them  all,  bear  various  emblems,  are  those 
of  the  same  god,  who  reins  under  different  names  in  the  na- 

*See  Sonnerat,  Voyage  aux  fades,  vol.  I. 

t  These  are  the  incarnations  of  Vichenou,  or  metamorphoses  of  the  sun.  He  is 
to  come  at  the  end  of  the  world,  that  is,  at  the  expiration  of  the  great  period,  in 
the  form  of  a  horse,  like  the  four  horses  of  the  Apocalypse. 

t  When  a  sectary  of  Chiven  hears  the  name  of  Vichenou  pronounced,  he  stops 
his  ears,  runs,  and  purifies  himself. 


84  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

tions  of  the  East.  The  Chinese  adores  him  in  Fot,*  the 
Japanese  in  Budso,  the  Ceylonese  in  Bedhou,  the  people  of 
Laos  in  Chekia,  of  Pegu  in  Phta,  of  Siam  in  Sommona-Kodom, 
of  Thibet  in  Budd  and  in  La.  Agreeing  in  some  points  of 
his  history,  they  all  celebrate  his  life  of  penitence,  his  mortifi- 
cations, his  fastings,  his  functions  of  mediator  and  expiator, 
the  enmity  between  him  and  another  god,  his  adversary,  their 
battles,  and  his  ascendency.  But  as  they  disagree  on  the 
means  of  pleasing  him,  they  dispute  about  rites  and  ceremo- 
nies, and  about  the  dogmas  of  interior  doctrine  and  of  public 
doctrine.  That  Japanese  Bonze,  with  a  yellow  robe  and 
naked  head,  preaches  the  eternity  of  souls,  and  their  suc- 
cessive transmigrations  into  various  bodies ;  near  him,  the 
Sintoist  denies  that  souls  can  exist  separate  from  the  senses,f 
and  maintains  that  they  are  only  the  effect  of  the  organs  to 
which  they  belong,  and  with  which  they  must  perish,  as  the 
sound  of  the  flute  perishes  with  the  flute.  Near  him,  the 
Siamese,  with  his  eyebrows  shaved,  and  a  talipat  screen  J  in  his 
hand,  recommends  alms,  offerings,  and  expiations,  at  the  same 
time  that  he  preaches  blind  necessity  and  inexorable  fate.  The 
Chinese  vo-chung  sacrifices  to  the  souls  of  his  ancestors  ;  and 
next  him,  the  follower  of  Confucius  interrogates  his  destiny  in 
the  cast  of  dice  and  the  movement  of  the  stars.?  That  child, 
surrounded  by  a  swarm  of  priests  in  yellow  robes  and  hats,  is 

*  The  original  name  of  this  god  is  Bails,  which  in  Hebrew  signifies  an  egg. 
The  Arabs  pronounce  it  Baidh,  giving  to  the  dh  an  emphatic  sound  which  makes 
it  approach  to  dz.  Kempfer,  an  acurate  traveler,  writes  it  Budso,  which  must  be 
pronounced  Boudso,  whence  is  derived  the  name  of  Budsoist  and  of  Bonze, 
applied  to  the  priests.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  in  his  Stromata,  writes  it  Bedou, 
as  it  is  pronounced  also  by  the  Chingulais;  and  Saint  Jerome,  Boudda  and 
Boutta.  At  Thibet  they  call  it  Budd  ;  and  hence  the  name  of  the  country  called 
Bond-tan  and  Ti-budd :  it  was  in  this  province  that  this  system  of  religion  was 
first  inculcated  in  Upper  Asia  ;  La  is  a  corruption  of  Allah,  the  name  of  God  in 
the  Syriac  language,  from  which  many  of  the  eastern  dialects  appear  to  be  de- 
rived. The  Chinese  having  neither  b  nor  d,  have  supplied  their  place  by /and  /, 
and  have  therefore  said  Pout. 

fSee  in  Kempfer  the  doctrine  of  the  Sintoists,  which  is  a  mixture  of  that  of 
Epicurus  and  of  the  Stoics. 

I  It  is  a  leaf  of  the  Latanier  species  of  the  palm-tree.  Hence  the  bonzes  of 
Siam  take  the  appellation  of  Talapoin.  The  use  of  this  screen  is  an  exclusive 
privilege. 

g  The  sectaries  of  Confucius  are  no  less  addicted  to  astrology  than  the  bonzes. 
It  is  indeed  the  malady  of  every  eastern  nation, 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  85 

the  Grand  Lama,  in  whom  the  god  of  Thibet  has  just  become 
incarnate.*  But  a  rival  has  arisen  who  partakes  this  benefit 
with  him ;  and  the  Kalmouc  on  the  banks  of  the  Baikal,  has  a 
God  similar  to  the  inhabitant  of  Lasa.  And  they  agree,  also, 
in  one  important  point — that  god  can  inhabit  only  a  human 
body.  They  both  laugh  at  the  stupidity  of  the  Indian  who 
pays  homage  to  cow-dung,  though  they  themselves  conse- 
crate the  excrements  of  their  high-priest.f 

After  these,  a  crowd  of  other  banners,  which  no  man  could 
number,  came  forward  into  sight ;  and  the  genius  exclaimed  : 

I  should  never  finish  the  detail  of  all  the  systems  of  faith 
which  divide  these  nations.  Here  the  hordes  of  Tartars  adore, 
in  the  forms  of  beasts,  birds,  and  insects,  the  good  and  evil 
Genii ;  who,  under  a  principal,  but  indolent  god,  govern  the 
universe.  In  their  idolatry  they  call  to  mind  the  ancient  pa- 
ganism of  the  West.  You  observe  the  fantastical  dress  of 
the  Chamans  ;  who,  under  a  robe  of  leather,  hung  round  with 
bells  and  rattles,  idols  of  iron,  claws  of  birds,  skins  of  snakes 
and  heads  of  owls,  invoke,  with  frantic  cries  and  factitious 
convulsions,  the  dead  to  deceive  the  living.  There,  the  black 
tribes  of  Africa  exhibit  the  same  opinions  in  the  worship  of 
their  fetiches.  See  the  inhabitant  of  Juida  worship  god  in  a 
great  snake,  which,  unluckily,  the  swine  delight  to  eat.  J  The 
Teleutean  attires  his  god  in  a  coat  of  several  colors,  like  a 

*  The  Delai-La-Ma,  or  immense  high  priest  of  La,  is  the  same  person  whom 
we  find  mentioned  in  our  old  books  of  travels,  by  the  name  of  Prester  John,  from 
a  corruption  of  the  Persian  word  Djehan,  which  signifies  the  world,  to  which  has 
been  prefixed  the  French  word  prestre  or  pritre,  priest.  Thus  the  priest  world, 
and  the  god  world  are  in  the  Persian  idiom  the  same. 

t  In  a  recent  expedition  the  English  have  found  certain  idols  of  the  Lamas  filled 
in  the  inside  with  sacred  pastils  from  the  close  stool  of  the  high  priest.  Mr, 
Hastings,  and  Colonel  Pollier,  who  is  now  at  Lausanne,  are  living  witnesses  of 
this  fact,  and  undoubtedly  worthy  of  credit.  It  will  be  very  extraordinary  to 
observe,  that  this  disgusting  ceremony  is  connected  with  a  profound  philosophical 
system,  to  wit,  that  of  the  metempsychosis,  admitted  by  the  Lamas.  When  the 
Tartars  swallow,  the  sacred  relics,  which  they  are  accustomed  to  do,  they  imi- 
tate the  laws  of  the  universe,  the  parts  of  which  are  incessantly  absorbed  and 
pass  into  the  substance  of  each  other.  It  is  upon  the  model  of  the  serpent  who 
devours  his  tail,  and  this  serpent  is  Budd  and  the  world. 

J  It  frequently  happens  that  the  swine  devour  the  very  species  of  serpents  the 
negroes  adore,  which  is  a  source  of  great  desolation  in  the  country.  President  de 
Brosses  has  given  us,  in  hisJfistory  of  the  Fetiche,  a  curious  collection  of  absurdi- 
ties of  this  nature. 


86  THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

Russian  soldier.*  The  Kamchadale,  observing  that  everything 
goes  wrong  in  his  frozen  country,  considers  god  as  an  old 
ill-natured  man,  smoking  his  pipe  and  hunting  foxes  and 
martins  in  his  sledge.f 

But  you  may  still  behold  a  hundred  savage  nations  who 
have  none  of  the  ideas  of  civilized  people  respecting  God,  the 
soul,  another  world,  and  a  future  life ;  who  have  formed  no 
system  of  worship  ;  and  who  nevertheless  enjoy  the  rich  gifts 
of  nature  in  the  irreligion  in  which  she  has  created  them. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

PROBLEM   OF   RELIGIOUS   CONTRADICTIONS. 

E  various  groups  having  taken  their  places,  an  un- 
bounded silence  succeeded  to  the  murmurs  of  the 
multitude ;  and  the  legislator  said : 

Chiefs  and  doctors  of  mankind!  You  remark  how  the 
nations,  living  apart,  have  hitherto  followed  different  paths, 
each  believing  its  own  to  be  that  of  truth.  If,  however,  truth 
is  one,  and  opinions  are  various,  it  is  evident  that  some  are 
in  error.  If,  then,  such  vast  numbers  of  us  are  in  the  wrong, 
who  shall  dare  to  say,  "  I  am  in  the  right  ?  "  Begin,  therefore, 
by  being  indulgent  in  your  dissensions.  Let  us  all  seek  truth 
jis  if  no  one  possessed  it.  The  opinions  which  to  this  day 
have  governed  the  world,  originating  from  chance,  propa- 
gated in  obscurity,  admitted  without  discussion,  accredited 
by  a  love  of  novelty  and  imitation,  have  usurped  their  empire 

*The  Teleuteans,  a  Tartar  nation,  paint  God  as  wearing  a  vesture  of  all  colors, 
particularly  red  and  green ;  and  as  these  constitute  the  uniform  of  the  Russian 
dragoons,  they  compare  him  to  this  description  of  soldiers.  The  Egyptians  also 
dress  the  God  World  in  a  garment  of  every  color.  Eusebius  Praep.  Evang.  p  115. 
The  Teleuteans  call  God  £ou,  which  is  only  an  alteration  of  Boudd,  the  God  Egg 
and  World. 

t  Consult  upon  this  subject  a  work  entitled,  Description  des  Peuples,  soumis  a  la 
Rusfie,  and  it  will  be  found  that  the  picture  is  not  overcharged. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  87 

in  a  clandestine  manner.  It  is  time,  if  jhey  are  well  founded, 
to  give  a  solemn  stamp  totheir  certainty,  and  legitimize  their 
existence.  Let  us  summon  them  this  day  to  a  general  scru- 
tiny, let  each  propound  his  creed,  let  the  whole  assembly  be 
the  judge,  and  let  that  alone  be  acknowledged  as  true  which 
is  so  for  the  whole  human  race. 

Then,  by  order  of  position,  the  representative  of  the  first 
standard  on  the  left  was  allowed  to  speak : 

"  You  are  not  permitted  to  doubt,"  said  their  chief,  "  that 
our  doctrine  is  the  only  true  and  infallible  one.  First,  it  is 
revealed  by  God  himself — " 

"  So  is  ours,"  cried  all  the  other  standards,  "  and  you  are 
not  permitted  to  doubt  it." 

"  But  at  least,"  said  the  legislator,  "  you  must  prove  it,  for 
we  cannot  believe  what  we  do  not  know." 

"  Our  doctrine  is  proved,"  replied  the  first  standard,  "  by 
numerous  facts,  by  a  multitude  of  miracles,  by  resurrections 
of  the  dead,  by  rivers  dried  up,  by  mountains  removed  —  " 

"  And  we  also  have  numberless  miracles,"  cried  all  the 
others,  and  each  began  to  recount  the  most  incredible  things. 

"  Their  miracles,"  said  the  first  standard,  "  are  imaginary, 
or  the  fictions  of  the  evil  spirit,  who  has  deluded  them." 

"  They  are  yours,"  said  the  others,  "  that  are  imaginary  ;  " 
and  each  group,  speaking  of  itself,  cried  out : 

"  None  but  ours  are  true,  all  the  others  are  false." 

The  legislator  then  asked  :  "  Have  you  living  witnesses  of 
the  facts  ?  " 

"  No,"  replied  they  all ;  "  the  facts  are  ancient,  the  witnesses 
are  dead,  but  their  writings  remain." 

"  Be  it  so,"  replied  the  legislator ;  "  but  if  they  contradict 
each  other,  who  shall  reconcile  them  ?  " 

"Just  judge  !  "  cried  one  of  the  standards,  "the  proof  that 
our  witnesses  have  seen  the  truth  is,  that  they  died  to  confirm 
it ;  and  our  faith  is  sealed  by  the  blood  of  martyrs. " 

"  And  ours  too,"  said  the  other  standards  ;  "  we  have 
thousands  of  martyrs  who  have  died  in  the  most  excruciating 
torments,  without  ever  denying  the  truth." 

Then  the  Christians  of  every  sect,  the  Mussulmans,  the 
Indians,  the  Japanese,  recited  endless  legends  of  confessors, 
martyrs,  penitents,  etc. 


8$  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

i 

And  one  of  these  parties,  having  denied  the  martyrology  of 
the  others  :  "  Well,"  said  they,  "  we  will  then  die  ourselves  to 
prove  the  truth  of  our  belief." 

And  instantly  a  crowd  of  men,  of  every  religion  and  of 
every  sect,  presented  themselves  to  suffer  the  torments  of 
death.  Many  even  began  to  tear  their  arms,  and  to  beat  their 
heads  and  breasts,  without  discovering  any  symptom  of  pain. 

But  the  legislator,  preventing  them  — "  O  men!  "  said  he, 
"  hear  my  words  with  patience.  If  you  die  to  prove  that  two 
and  two  make  four,  will  your  death  add  any  thing  to  this 
truth?" 

"  No ! "  answered  all. 

"  And  if  you  die  to  prove  that  they  make  five,  will  that 
make  them  five  ?  " 

Again  they  all  answered,  "  No." 

"  What,  then,  is  your  persuasion  to  prove,  if  it  changes  not 
the  existence  of  things  ?  Truth  is  one — your  persuasions 
are  various  ;  many  of  you,  therefore,  are  in  error.  Now,  if 
man,  as  is  evident,  can  persuade  himself  of  error,  what  is 
the  persuasion  of  man  to  prove  ? 

"  If  error  has  its  martyrs,  what  is  the  sure  criterion  of  truth  ? 

"  If  the  evil  spirit  works  miracles,  what  is  the  distinctive 
character  of  God  ? 

"  Besides,  why  resort  forever  to  incomplete  and  insufficient 
miracles  ?  Instead  of  changing  the  course  of  nature,  why 
not  rather  change  opinions  ?  Why  murder  and  terrify  men, 
instead  of  instructing  and  correcting  them  ? 

"  O  credulous,  but  opinionated  mortals  !  none  of  us  know 
what  was  done  yesterday,  what  is  doing  to-day  even  under 
our  eyes ;  and  we  swear  to  what  was  done  two  thousand 
years  ago ! 

"  Oh,  the  weakness  and  yet  the  pride  of  men !  The  laws  of 
nature  are  unchangeable  and  profound  —  our  minds  are  full 
of  illusion  and  frivolity  —  and  yet  we  would  comprehend 
every  thing — determine  every  thing!  Forgetting  that  it 
is  easier  for  the  whole  human  race  to  be  in  error,  than  to 
change  the  nature  of  the  smallest  atom." 

"Well,  then,"  said  one  of  the  doctors,  "let  us  lay  aside  the 
evidence  of  fact,  since  it  is  uncertain  ;  let  us  come  to  argu- 
ment—  to  the  proofs  inherent  in  the  doctrine." 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  89 

Then  came  forward,  with  a  look  of  confidence,  an  Iman  of 
the  law  of  Mahomet ;  and,  having  advanced  into  the  circle, 
turned  towards  Mecca,  and  recited  with  great  fervor  his  con- 
fession of  faith.  "  Praise  be  to  God,"  said  he,  with  a  solemn 
and  imposing  voice,  "  the  light  shines  with  full  evidence,  and 
the  truth  has  no  need  of  examination."  Then,  showing  the 
Koran,  he  exclaimed  :  "  Here  is  the  light  of  truth  in  its  proper 
essence.  •  There  is  no  doubt  in  this  book.  It  conducts  with 
safety  him  who  walks  in  darkness,  and  who  receives  without 
discussion  the  divine  word  which  descended  on  the  prophet, 
to  save  the  simple  and  confound  the  wise.  God  has  estab- 
lished Mahomet  his  minister  on  earth  ;  he  has  given  him  the 
world,  that  he  may  subdue  with  the  sword  whoever  shall 
refuse  to  receive  his  law.  Infidels  dispute,  and  will  not  be- 
lieve ;  their  obduracy  comes  from  God,  who  has  hardened 
their  hearts  to  deliver  them  to  dreadful  punishments."  * 

At  these  words  a  violent  murmur  arose  on  all  sides,  and 
silenced  the  speaker.  "  Who  is  this  man,"  cried  all  the  groups, 
"  who  thus  insults  us  without  a  cause  ?  What  right  has  he  to 
impose  his  creed  on  us  as  conqueror  and  tyrant  ?  Has  not 
God  endowed  us,  as  well  as  him,  with  eyes,  understanding, 
and  reason  ?  And  have  we  not  an  equal  right  to  use  them,  in 
choosing  what  to  believe  and  what  to  reject  ?  If  he  attacks 
us,  shall  we  not  defend  ourselves  ?  If  he  likes  to  believe 
without  examination,  must  we  therefore  not  examine  before 
we  believe  ? 

"  And  what  is  this  luminous  doctrine  that  fears  the  light  ? 
What  is  this  apostle  of  a  God  of  clemency,  who  preaches 
nothing  but  murder  and  carnage  ?  What  is  this  God  of 
justice,  who  punishes  blindness  which  he  himself  has  made  ? 
If  violence  and  persecution  are  the  arguments  of  truth,  are 
gentleness  and  charity  the  signs  of  falsehood  ?  " 

A  man  then  advancing  from  a  neighboring  group,  said  to 
the  Iman : 

"  Admitting  that  Mahomet  is  the  apostle  of  the  best  doc- 
trine,—  the  prophet  of  the  true  religion, —  have  the  goodness 

"This  passage  contains  the  sense  and  nearly  the  very  words  of  the  first  chapter 
of  the  Koran  ;  and  the  reader  will  observe  in  general,  that,  in  the  pictures  that 
follow,  the  writer  has  endeavored  to  give  as  accurately  as  possible  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  opinions  of  each  party.  ^ 


9O  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

at  least  to  tell  us  whether,  in  the  practice  of  his  doctrine, 
we  are  to  follow  his  son-in-law  Ali,  or  his  vicars  Omar 
and  Aboubekre  ?  "  * 

At  the  sound  of  these  names  a  terrible  schism  arose  among 
the  Mussulmans  themselves.  The  partisans  of  Ali  and  those 
of  Omar,  calling  out  heretics  and  blasphemers,  loaded  each 
other  with  execrations.  The  quarrel  became  so  violent  that 
neighboring  groups  were  obliged  to  interfere,  to  prevent  their 
coming  to  blows.  At  length,  tranquillity  being  somewhat 
restored,  the  legislator  said  to  the  Imans : 

"  See  the  consequences  of  your  principles !  If  you  your- 
selves were  to  carry  them  into  practice,  you  would  destroy 
each  other  to  the  last  man.  Is  it  not  the  first  law  of  God  that 
man  should  live  ?  " 

Then,'  addressing  himself  to  the  other  groups,  he  continued : 

"  Doubtless  this  intolerant  and  exclusive  spirit  shocks  every 
idea  of  justice,  and  overturns  the  whole  foundation  of  morals 
and  society  ;  but  before  we  totally  reject  this  code  of  doctrine, 
is  it  not  proper  to  hear  some  of  its  dogmas  ?  Let  us  not  pro- 
nounce on  the  forms,  without  having  some  knowledge  of  the 
substance." 

>  i      The  groups  having  consented,  the  Iman  began  to  expound 
how  God,  having  sent  to  the  nations  lost  in  idolatry  twenty- 
four  thousand  prophets,  had  finally  sent  the  last,  the  seal  and 
rjj     \fifc"\  perfection  of  all,  Mahomet ;  on  whom  be  the   salvation  of 

r\i  i^~          peace :  how,  to  prevent  the   divine  word  from   being  any 
*j /  longer  perverted  by  infidels,  the  supreme  goodness  had  itself 

>  written  the  pages  of  the  Koran.  Then,  explaining  the  partic- 
ular dogmas  of  Islamism,  the  Iman  unfolded  how  the  Koran, 
partaking  of  the  divine  nature,  was  uncreated  and  eternal, 
like  its  author :  how  it  had  been  sent  leaf  by  leaf,  in  twenty- 
four  thousand  nocturnal  apparitions  of  the  angel  Gabriel : 
how  the  angel  announced  himself  by  a  gentle  knocking,  which 
threw  the  prophet  into  a  cold  sweat :  how  in  the  vision  of  one 
|  night  he  had  travelled  over  ninety  heavens,  riding  on  the 
beast  Borack,  half  horse  and  half  woman :  how,  endowed  with 
the  gift  of  miracles,  he  walked  in  the  sunshine  without  a 
shadow,  turned  dry  trees  to  green,  filled  wells  and  cisterns 

1        *  These  are  the  two  grand  parties  into  which  the  Mussulmans  are  divided.   The 
Turks  have  embraced  the  second,  the  Persians  the  first. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  91 

with  water,  and  split  in  two  the  body  of  the  moon :  how,  by  N 
divine  command,  Mahomet  had  propagated,  sword  in  hand, 
the  religion  the  most  worthy  of  God  by  its  sublimity,  and  the 
most  proper  for  men  by  the  simplicity  of  its  practice ;  since  it 
consisted  in  only  eight  or  ten  points :  —  To  profess  the  unity 
of  God ;  to  acknowledge  Mahomet  as  his  only  prophet ;  to 
pray  five  times  a  day  ;  to  fast  one  month  in  the  year ;  to  go  to 
Mecca  once  in  our  life ;  to  pay  the  tenth  of  all  we  possess  ;  to  y 
drink  no  wine ;  to  eat  no  pork ;  and  to  make  war  upon  the 
infidels.*     He  taught  that  by  these  means  every  Mussulman, 
becoming  himself  an  apostle  and  martyr,  should  enjoy  in  this  < 
world  many  blessings  ;  and  at  his  death,  his  soul,  weighed  in 
the  balance  of  works,  and  absolved  by  the  two  black  angels, 
should  pass  the  infernal  pit  on  the  bridge  as  narrow  as  a  hair 
and  as  sharp  as  the  edge  of  a  sword,  and  should  finally  be 
received  to  a  region  of  delight,  which  is  watered  with  rivers 
of  milk  and  honey,  and  embalmed  in  all  the  perfumes  of  India 
and  Arabia;  and  where  the  celestial  Houris, — virgins  always  I 
chaste, —  are  eternally  crowning  with  repeated  favors  the  elect  , 
"  of  God,  who  preserve  an  eternal  youth. 

At  these  words  an  involuntary  smile  was  seen  on  all  their 
lips ;  and  the  various  groups,  reasoning  on  these  articles  of 
faith,  exclaimed  with  one  voice  : 

"  Is  it  possible  that  reasonable  beings  can  admit  such  rever- 
ies ?  Would  you  not  think  it  a  chapter  from  The  Thousand 
and  One  Nights  ?  " 

A  Samoyede  advanced  into  the  circle:  "  The  paradise  of 
Mahomet,"  said  he,  "  appears  to  me  very  good ;  but  one  of   . 
the  means  of  gaining  it  is  embarrassing:  for  if  we   must    ' 
neither  eat  nor  drink  between  the  rising  and  setting  sun,  as 
he  has  ordered,  how  are  we  to  practise  that  fast  in  my  country, 
where  the  sun  continues  above  the  horizon  six  months  with- 
out setting  ?  " 

"  That  is  impossible,"  cried  all  the  Mussulman  doctors,  to 
support  the  teaching  of  the  prophet ;  but  a  hundred  nations 
having  attested  the  fact,  the  infallibility  of  Mahomet  could  not 
but  receive  a  severe  shock. 

"  It  is  singular,"  said  an  European,  "  that  God  should  be 

*  Whatever  the  advocates  for  the  philosophy  and  civilization  of  the  Turks  may 
assert,  to  make  war  upon  infidels  is  considered  by  them  as  an  obligatory  precept 
and  an  act  of  religion.  See  Reland  de  Rtlig.  Mahom. 


<)2  tHE   RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

constantly  revealing  what  takes  place  in  heaven,  without  ever 
instructing  us  what  is  doing  on  the  earth." 

"  For  my  part,"  said  an  American,  "  I  find  a  great  difficulty 
in  the  pilgrimage.  For  suppose  twenty-five  years  to  a  gener- 
ation, and  only  a  hundred  millions  of  males  on  the  globe, — 
each  being  obliged  to  go  to  Mecca  once  in  his  life, —  there 
must  be  four  millions  a  year  on  the  journey  ;  and  as  it  would 
be  impracticable  for  them  to  return  the  same  year,  the  num- 
bers would  be  doubled  —  that  is,  eight  millions  :  where  would 
you  find  provisions,  lodgings,  water,  vessels,  for  this  univer- 
sal procession  ?  Here  must  be  miracles  indeed !  " 

"  The  proof,"  said  a  catholic  doctor,  "  that  the  religion  of 
Mahomet  is  not  revealed,  is  that  the  greater  part  of  the  ideas 
which  serve  for  its  basis  existed  a  long  time  before,  and  that 
it  is  only  a  confused  mixture  of  truths  disfigured  and  taken 
from  our  holy  religion  and  from  that  of  the  Jews ;  which  an 
ambitious  man  has  made  to  serve  his  projects  of  domination, 
and  his  worldly  views.  Look  through  his  book  ;  you  will  see 
nothing  there  but  the  histories  of  the  Bible  and  the  Gospel  > 
travestied  into  absurd  fables  —  into  a  tissue  of  vague  and 
contradictory  declamations,  and  ridiculous  or  dangerous 
precepts. 

"  Analyze  the  spirit  of  these  precepts,  and  the  conduct  of 
their  apostle  ;  you  will  find  there  an  artful  and  audacious 
character,  which,  to  obtain  its  end,  works  ably  it  is  true,  on 
the  passions  of  the  people  it  had  to  govern.  It  is  speaking 
to  simple  men,  and  it  entertains  them  with  miracles  ;  they  are 
ignorant  and  jealous,  and  it  flatters  their  vanity  by  despising 
science;  they  are  poor  and  rapacious,  and  it  excites  their 
cupidity  by  the  hope  of  pillage  ;  having  nothing  at  first  to 
give  them  on  earth,  it  tells  them  of  treasures  in  heaven ;  it 
teaches  them  to  desire  death  as  a  supreme  good  ;  it  threatens 
cowards  with  hell ;  it  rewards  the  brave  with  paradise ;  it 
sustains  the  weak  with  the  opinion  of  fatality  ;  in  short,  it  pro- 
duces the  attachment  it  wants  by  all  the  allurements  of  sense, 
and  all  the  power  of  the  passions. 

"  How  different  is  the  character  of  our  religion  !  and  how 
completely  does  its  empire,  founded  on  the  counteraction  of 
the  natural  temper,  and  the  mortification  of  all  our  passions, 
prove  its  divine  origin!  How  forcibly  does  its  mild  and 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  93 

compassionate  morality,  its  affections  altogether  spiritual, 
attest  its  emanation  from  God  !  Many  of  its  doctrines,  it  is  true, 
soar  above  the  reach  of  the  understanding,  and  impose  on 
reason  a  respectful  silence  ;  but  this  more  fully  demonstrates 
its  revelation,  since  the  human  mind  could  never  have  im- 
agined such  mysteries." 

Then,  holding  the  Bible  in  one  hand  and  the  four  Gospels 
in  the  other,  the  doctor  began  to  relate  that,  in  the  beginning, 
God,  after  passing  an  eternity  in  idleness,  took  the  resolution, 
without  any  known  cause,  of  making  the  world  out  of  nothing; 
that  having  created  the  whole  universe  in  six  days,  he  found 
himself  fatigued  on  the  seventh  ;  that  having  placed  the  first 
human  pair  in  a  garden  of  delights,  to  make  them  completely 
happy,  he  forbade  their  tasting  a  particular  fruit  which  he 
placed  within  their  reach ;  that  these  first  parents,  having 
yielded  to  the  temptation,  all  their  race  (which  were  not  yet 
born)  had  been  condemned  to  bear  the  penalty  of  a  fault 
which  they  had  not  committed ;  that,  after  having  left  the 
human  race  to  damn  themselves  for  four  or  five  thousand 
years,  this  God  of  mercy  ordered  a  well  beloved  son,  whom 
he  had  engendered  without  a  mother,  and  who  was  as  old  as 
himself,  to  go  and  be  put  to  death  on  the  earth ;  and  this  for 
the  salvation  of  mankind  ;  of  whom  much  the  greater  portion, 
nevertheless,  have  ever  since  continued  in  the  way  of  perdi- 
tion ;  that  to  remedy  this  new  difficulty,  this  same  God,  born 
of  a  virgin,  having  died  and  risen  from  the  dead,  assumes  a 
new  existence  every  day,  and  in  the  form  of  a  piece  of  bread, 
multiplies  himself  by  millions  at  the  voice  of  one  of  the  basest 
of  men.  Then,  passing  on  to  the  doctrine  of  the  sacraments, 
he  was  going  to  treat  at  large  on  the  power  of  absolution 
and  reprobation,  of  the  means  of  purging  all  sins  by  a  little 
water  and  a  few  words,  when,  uttering  the  words  indulgence, 
power  of  the  pope,  sufficient  grace,  and  efficacious  grace,  he 
was  interrupted  by  a  thousand  cries. 

"  It  is  a  horrible  abuse,"  cried  the  Lutherans,  "  to  pretend 
to  remit  sins  for  money." 

"  The  notion  of  the  real  presence,"  cried  the  Calvinists,  "  is 
contrary  to  the  text  of  the  Gospel." 

"  The  pope  has  no  right  to  decide  anything  of  himself," 
cried  the  Jansenists  ;  and  thirty  other  sects  rising  up,  and 


94  THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

accusing  each  other  of  heresies  and  errors,  it  was  no  longer 
possible  to  hear  anything  distinctly. 

Silence  being  at  last  restored,  the  Mussulmans  observed  to 
the  legislator : 

"  Since  you  have  rejected  our  doctrine  as  containing  things 
incredible,  can  you  admit  that  of  the  Christians  ?  Is  not  theirs 
still  more  contrary  to  common  sense  and  justice  ?  A  God, 
immaterial  and  infinite,  to  become  a  man !  to  have  a  son  as 
old  as  himself!  This  god-man  to  become  bread,  to  be  eaten 
and  digested  !  Have  we  any  thing  equal  to  that  ?  Have  the 
Christians  an  exclusive  right  of  setting  up  a  blind  faith  ?  And 
will  you  grant  them  privileges  of  belief  to  our  detriment  ?  " 

Some  savage  tribes  then  advanced :  "  What !  "  said  they, 
"  because  a  man  and  woman  ate  an  apple  six  thousand  years 
ago,  all  the  human  race  are  damned  ?  And  you  call  God 
just?  What  tyrant  ever  rendered  children  responsible  for 
the  faults  of  their  fathers  ?  What  man  can  answer  for  the 
actions  of  another  ?  Does  not  this  overturn  every  idea  of 
justice  and  of  reason  ?  " 

Others  exclaimed :  "  Where  are  the  proofs,  the  witnesses 
of  these  pretended  facts  ?  Can  we  receive  them  without  ex- 
amining the  evidence  ?  The  least  action  in  a  court  of  justice 
requires  two  witnesses  ;  and  we  are  ordered  to  believe  all  this 
on  mere  tradition  and  hearsay !  " 

A  Jewish  Rabbin  then  addressing  the  assembly,  said :  "As 
to  the  fundamental  facts,  we  are  sureties  ;  but  with  regard  to 
their  form  and  their  application,  the  case  is  different,  and  the 
Christians  are  here  condemned  by  their  own  arguments.  For 
they  cannot  deny  that  we  are  the  original  source  from  which 
they  are  derived — the  primitive  stock  on  which  they  are 
grafted ;  and  hence  the  reasoning  is  very  short :  Either  our 
law  is  from  God,  and  then  theirs  is  a  heresy,  since  it  differs 
from  ours,  or  our  law  is  not  from  God,  and  then  theirs  falls  at 
the  same  time.1' 

"  But  you  must  make  this  distinction,"  replied  the  Christian: 
"  Your  law  is  from  God  as  typical  and  preparative,  but  not  as 
final  and  absolute :  you  are  the  image  of  which  we  are  the 
substance." 

"  We  know,"  replied  the  Rabbin,  "  that  such  are  your  pre- 
tensions ;  but  they  are  absolutely  gratuitous  and  false.  Your 


THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  95 

system  turns  altogether  on  mystical  meanings,  visionary  and 
allegorical  interpretations.*  With  violent  distortions  on  the 
letter  of  our  books,  you  substitute  the  most  chimerical  ideas 
for  the  true  ones,  and  find  in  them  whatever  pleases  you ;  as  a 
roving  imagination  will  find  figures  in  the  clouds.  Thus  you 
have  made  a  spiritual  Messiah  of  that  which,  in  the  spirit  of 
our  prophets,  is  only  a  temporal  king.  You  have  made  a 
redemption  of  the  human  race  out  of  the  simple  re-establish- 
ment of  our  nation.  Your  conception  of  the  Virgin  is  founded 
on  a  single  phrase,  of  which  you  have  changed  the  meaning. 
Thus  you  make  from  our  Scriptures  whatever  your  fancy  dic- 
tates ',  you  even  find  there  your  trinity  ;  though  there  is  not  a 
word  that  has  the  most  distant  allusion  to  such  a  thing ;  and 
it  is  an  invention  of  profane  writers,  admitted  into  your  sys- 
tem with  a  host  of  other  opinions,  of  every  religion  and  of 
every  sect,  during  the  anarchy  of  the  first  three  centuries  of 
your  era." 

At  these  words,  the  Christian  doctors,  crying  sacrilege  and 
blasphemy,  sprang  forward  in  a  transport  of  fury  to  fall  upon 
the  Jew  ;  and  a  troop  of  monks,  in  motley  dresses  of  black 
and  white,  advanced  with  a  standard  on  which  were  painted 
pincers,  gridirons,  lighted  fagots,  and  the  words  Justice, 
Charity,  Mercy.\  "It  is  necessary,"  said  they,  "  to  make  an 
example  of  these  impious  wretches,  and  burn  them  for  the 
glory  of  God."  They  began  even  to  prepare  the  pile,  when 
a  Mussulman  answered  in  a  strain  of  irony : 

"  This,  then,  is  that  religion  of  peace,  that  meek  and 
beneficent  system  which  you  so  much  extol !  This  is  that 
evangelical  charity  which  combats  infidelity  with  persuasive 
mildness,  and  repays  injuries  with  patience  !  Ye  hypocrites  ! 
It  is  thus  that  you  deceive  mankind — thus  that  you  propagate 
your  accursed  errors  !  When  you  were  weak,  you  preached 
liberty,  toleration,  peace ;  when  you  are  strong,  you  practise 
persecution  and  violence —  " 

*  When  we  read  the  Fathers  of  the  church,  and  see  upon  what  arguments  they 
have  built  the  edifice  of  religion,  we  are  inexpressibly  astonished  with  their 
credulity  or  their  knavery :  but  allegory  was  the  rage  of  that'period ;  the  Pagans 
employed  it  to  explain  the  actions  of  their  gods,  and  the  Christians  acted  in  the 
same  spirit  when  they  employed  it  after  their  fashion. 

t  This  description  answers  exactly  to  the  banner  of  the  Inquisition  of  Spanish 
Jacobins. 


96  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

And  he  was  going  to  begin  the  history  of  the  wars  and 
slaughters  of  Christianity,  when  the  legislator,  demanding 
silence,  suspended  this  scene  of  discord. 

The  monks,  affecting  a  tone  of  meekness  and  humility, 
exclaimed :  "  It  is  not  ourselves  that  we  would  avenge  ;  it 
is  the  cause  of  God ;  it  is  the  glory  of  God  that  we  defend." 

"And  what  right  have  you,  more  than  we,"  said  the  Imans, 
"  to  constitute  yourselves  the  representatives  of  God  ?  Have 
you  privileges  that  we  have  not  ?  Are  you  not  men  like  us  ?  " 

"To  defend  God,"  said  another  group,  "to  pretend  to 
avenge  him,  is  to  insult  his  wisdom  and  his  power.  Does  he 
not  know,  better  than  men,  what  befits  his  dignity  ?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  monks,  "  but  his  ways  are  secret." 

"  And  it  remains  for  you  to  prove,"  said  the  Rabbins,  "  that 
you  have  the  exclusive  privilege  of  understanding  them." 

Then,  proud  of  finding  supporters  to  their  cause,  the  Jews 
thought  that  the  books  of  Moses  were  going  to  be  triumphant, 
when  the  Mobed  (high  priest)  of  the  Parses  obtained  leave  to 
speak. 

"  We  have  heard,"  said  he,  "  the  account  of  the  Jews  and 
Christians  of  the  origin  of  the  world ;  and,  though  greatly 
mutilated,  we  find  in  it  some  facts  which  we  admit.  But  we 
deny  that  they  are  to  be  attributed  to  the  legislator  of  the 
Hebrews.  It  was  not  he  who  made  known  to  men  these  sub- 
lime truths,  these  celestial  events.  It  was  not  to  him  that  God 
revealed  them,  but  to  our  holy  prophet  Zoroaster :  and  the 
proof  of  this  is  in  the  very  books  that  they  refer  to.  Examine 
with  attention  the  laws,  the  ceremonies,  the  precepts  estab- 
lished by  Moses  in  those  books  ;  you  will  not  find  the  slightest 
indication,  either  expressed  or  understood,  of  what  constitutes 
the  basis  of  the  Jewish  and  Christian  theology.  You  nowhere 
find  the  least  trace  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  or  of  a  future 
life,  or  of  heaven,  or  of  hell,  or  of  the  revolt  of  the  principal 
angel,  author  of  the  evils  of  the  human  race.  These  ideas 
were  not  known  to  Moses,  and  the  reason  is  very  obvious : 
it  was  not  till  four  centuries  afterwards  that  Zoroaster  first 
evangelized  them  in  Asia.* 

*See  the  Chronology  of  the  Twelve  Ages,  in  which  I  conceive  myself  to  have 
clearly  proved  that  Moses  lived  about  1,400  years  before  Jesus  Christ,  and 
Zoroaster  about  a  thousand. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  97 

"  Thus,"  continued  the  Mobed,  turning  to  the  Rabbins,  "  it 
was  not  till  after  that  epoch,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  time  of  your 
first  kings,  that  these  ideas  began  to  appear  in  your  writers  ; 
and  then  their  appearance  was  obscure  and  gradual,  according 
to  the  progress  of  the  political  relations  between  your  ances- 
tors and  ours.  It  was  especially  when,  having  been  conquered 
by  the  kings  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon  and  transported  to  the 
banks  of  the  Tygris  and  the  Euphrates,  where  they  resided  for 
three  successive  generations,  that  they  imbibed  manners  and 
opinions  which  had  been  rejected  as  contrary  to  their  law. 
When  our  king  Cyrus  had  delivered  them  from  slavery,  their 
heart  was  won  to  us  by  gratitude ;  they  became  our  disciples 
and  imitators  ;  and  they  admitted  our  dogmas  in  the  revision 
of  their  books ;  *  for  your  Genesis,  in  particular,  was  never  the 
work  of  Moses,  but  a  compilation  drawn  up  after  the  return 
from  the  Babylonian  captivity,  in  which  are  inserted  the 
Chaldean  opinions  of  the  origin  of  the  world. 

"  At  first  the  pure  followers  of  the  law,  opposing  to  the 
emigrants  the  letter  of  the  text  and  the  absolute  silence  of  the 
prophet,  endeavored  to  repel  these  innovations  ;  but  they 
ultimately  prevailed,  and  our  doctrine,  modified  by  your  ideas, 
gave  rise  to  a  new  sect. 

*  In  the  first  periods  of  the  Christian  church,  not  only  the  most  learned  of  those 
who  have  since  been  denominated  heretics,  but  many  of  the  orthodox  conceived 
Moses  to  have  written  neither  the  law  nor  the  Pentateuch,  but  that  the  work  was 
a-compilation  made  by  the  elders  of  the  people  and  the  Seventy,  who,  after  the 
death  of  Moses,  collected  his  scattered  ordinances,  and  mixed  with  them  things 
that  were  extraneous ;  similar  to  what  happened  as  to  the  Koran  of  Mahomet. 
See  Les  Clementines,  Homel.  2.  seft.  51.  and  Homel.  3.  sect.  42. 

Modern  critics,  more  enlightened  or  more  attentive  than  the  ancients,  have 
found  in  Genesis  in  particular,  marks  of  its  having  been  composed  on  the  return 
from  the  captivity ;  but  the  principal  proofs  have  escaped  them.  These  I  mean  to 
exhibit  in  an  analysis  of  the  book  of  Genesis,  in  which  I  shall  demonstrate  that 
the  tenth  chapter,  among  others,  which  treats  of  the  pretended  generations  of  the 
man  called  Noah,  is  a  real  geographical  picture  of  the  world,  as  it  was  known  to 
the  Hebrews  at  the  epoch' of  the  captivity,  which  was  bounded  by  Greece  or 
Hellas  at  the  West,  mount  Caucasus  at  the  North,  Persia  at  the  East,  and 
Arabia  and  Upper  Egypt  at  the  South.  All  the  pretended  personages  from  Adam 
to  Abraham,  or  his  father  Terah,  are  mythological  beings,  stars,  constellations, 
countries.  Adam  is  Bootes  :  Noah  is  Osiris :  Xisuthrus  Janus,  Saturn  ;  that  is  to 
say  Capricorn,  or  the  celestial  Genius  that  opened  the  year.  The  Alexandrian 
Chronicle  says  expressly,  page  85,  that  Nimrod  was  supposed  by  the  Persians  to 
be  their  first  king,  as  having  invented  the  art  of  hunting,  and  that  he  was  trans- 
lated into  heaven,  where  he  appears  under  the  name  of  Orion. 


98  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

"You  expected  a  king  to  restore  your  political  independence ; 
we  announced  a  God  to  regenerate  and  save  mankind.  From 
this  combination  of  ideas,  your  Essenians  laid  the  foundation 
of  Christianity :  and  whatever  your  pretensions  may  be,  Jews, 
Christians,  Mussulmans,  you  are,  in-  your  system  of  spiritual 
beings,  only  the  blundering  followers  of  Zoroaster. " 

The  Mobed,  then  passing  on  to  the  details  of  his  religion, 
quoting  from  the  Zadder  and  the  Zendavesta,  recounted,  in 
the  same  order  as  they  are  found  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  the 
creation  of  the  world  in  six  gahans*  the  formation  of  a  first 
man  and  a  first  woman,  in  a  divine  place,  under  the  reign  of 
perfect  good ;  the  introduction  of  evil  into  the  world  by  the 
great  snake,  emblem  of  Ahrimanes ;  the  revolt  and  battles  of 
the  Genius  of  evil  and  darkness  against  Ormuzd,  God  of  good 
and  of  light ;  the  division  of  the  angels  into  white  and  black, 
or  good  and  bad  ;  their  hierarchal  orders,  cherubim,  seraphim, 
thrones,  dominions,  etc. ;  the  end  of  the  world  at  the  close  of 
six  thousand  years  ;  the  coming  of  the  lamb,  the  regenerator 
of  nature  ;  the  new  world  ;  the  future  life,  and  the  regions  of 
happiness  and  misery ;  the  passage  of  souls  over  the  bridge 
of  the  bottomless  pit ;  the  celebration  of  the  mysteries  of 
Mithras  ;  the  unleavened  bread  which  the  initiated  eat ;  the 
baptism  of  new-born  children  ;  the  unction  of  the  dead ;  the 
confession  of  sins  ;  and,  in  a  word,  he  recited  so  many  things 
analagous  to  those  of  the  three  preceding  religions,  that  his 

*  Or  periods,  or  in  six  gaban-bars,  that  is  six  periods  of  time.  These  periods 
are  what  Zoroaster  calls  the  thousands  of  God  or  of  light,  meaning  the  six  summer 
months.  In  the  first,  say  the  Persians,  God  created  (arranged  in  order)  the 
heavens  :  in  the  second  the  waters ;  in  the  third  the  earth  ;  in  the  fourth  trees ; 
in  the  fifth  animals ;  and  in  the  sixth  man ;  corresponding  with  the  account  in 
Genesis.  For  particulars  see  Hyde,  ch.  9,  and  Henry  Lord,  ch.  2,  on  the  religion 
of  the  ancient  Persians.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  same  tradition  is  found  in  the 
sacred  books  of  the  Etrurians,  which  relate  that  the  fabricator  of  all  things  had 
comprised  the  duration  of  his  work  in  a  period  of  twelve  thousand  years,  which 
period  was  distributed  to  the  twelve  houses  of  the  sun.  In  the  first  thousand, 
God  made  heaven  and  earth :  in  the  second  the  firmament ;  in  the  third  the  sea 
and  the  waters ;  in  the  fourth  the  sun,  moon  and  stars ;  in  the  fifth  the  souls  of 
animals,  birds,  and  reptiles ;  in  the  sixth  man.  See  Suidas,  at  the  word  Tyrrhena ; 
which  shows  first  the  identity  of  their  theological  and  astrological  opinions;  and, 
secondly,  the  identity,  or  rather  confusion  of  ideas,  between  absolute  and  system- 
atical creation ;  that  is,  the  periods  assigned  for  renewing  the  face  of  nature, 
which  were  at  first  the  period  of  the  year,  and  afterwards  periods  of  60,  of  600,  of 
25.000,  of  36,000  and  of  432,000  years. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  99 

discourse  seemed  like  a  commentary  or  a  continuation  of  the 
Koran  or  the  Apocalypse.* 

But  the  Jewish,  Christian,  and  Mahometan  doctors,  crying 
out  against  this  recital,  and  treating  the  Parses  as  idolaters 
and  worshippers  of  fire,  charged  them  with  falsehood,  inter- 
polations, falsification  of  facts ;  and  there  arose  a  violent 
dispute  as  to  the  dates  of  the  events,  their  order  and  suc- 
cession, the  origin  of  the  doctrines,  their  transmission  from 
nation  to  nation,  the  authenticity  of  the  books  on  which  they 
are  founded,  the  epoch  of  their  composition,  the  character  of 
their  compilers,  and  the  validity  of  their  testimony.  And  the 
various  parties,  pointing  out  reciprocally  to  each  other,  the 
contradictions,  improbabilities,  and  forgeries,  accused  one 
another  of  having  established  their  belief  on  popular  rumors, 
vague  traditions,  and  absurd  fables,  invented  without  discern- 
ment, and  admitted  without  examination  by  unknown,  partial, 
or  ignorant  writers,  at  uncertain  or  unknown  epochs. 

A  great  murmur  now  arose  from  under  the  standards  of  the 
various  Indian  sects  ;  and  the  Bramins,  protesting  against  the 
pretensions  of  the  Jews  and  the  Parses,  said : 

"  What  are  these  new  and  almost  unheard  of  nations,  who 
arrogantly  set  themselves  up  as  the  sources  of  the  human 
race,  and  the  depositaries  of  its  archives  ?  To  hear  their  cal- 
culations of  five  or  six  thousand  years,  it  would  seem  that  the 
world  was  of  yesterday ;  whereas  our  monuments  prove  a 
duration  of  many  thousands  of  centuries.  And  for  what 
reason  are  their  books  to  be  preferred  to  ours  ?  Are  then  the 
Vedes,  the  Chastres,  and  the  Pourans  inferior  to  the  Bibles, 

*  The  modern  Parses  and  the  ancient  Mithriacs,  who  are  the  same  sect,  observe 
all  the  Christian  sacraments,  even  the  laying  on  of  hands  in  confirmation.  The 
priest  of  Mithra,  says  Tertullian,  (de  Prcescriptione,  ch.  40)  promises  absolution 
from  sin  on  confession  and  baptism ;  and,  if  I  rightly  remember,  Mithra  marks 
his  soldiers  in  the  forehead,  with  the  chrism  called  in  the  Egyptian  Kouphi ;  he 
celebrates  the  sacrifice  of  bread,  which  is  the  resurrection,  and  presents  the 
crown  to  his  followers,  menacing  them  at  the  same  time  with  the  sword,  etc. 

In  these  mysteries  they  tried  the  courage  of  the  initiated  with  a  thousand  ter- 
rors, presenting  fire  to  his  face,  a  sword  to  his  breast,  etc.  ;  they  also  offered  him 
a  crown,  which  he  refused,  saying,  God  is  my  crown  :  and  this  crown  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  celestial  sphere  by  the  side  of  Bootes.  The  personages  in  these  mysteries 
were  distinguished  by  the  names  of  the  animal  constellations.  The  ceremony  of 
mass  is  nothing  more  than  an  imitation  of  these  mysteries  and  those  of  Eleusis. 
The  benediction,  the  Lord  be  -with  you,  is  a  literal  translation  of  the  formula  of 
admission  chou-k,  am,  p^ka.  See  Beausob.  Hist.  Du  Manicheisme,  vol.  ii. 


100  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

the  Zendavestas,  and  the  Zadders  f  *  And  is  not  the  testimony 
of  our  fathers  and  our  gods  as  valid  as  that  of  the  fathers  and 
the  gods  of  the  West  ?  Ah  !  if  it  were  permitted  to  reveal  our 
mysteries  to  profane  men !  if  a  sacred  veil  did  not  justly  con- 
ceal them  from  every  eye  !  " 

The  Bramins  stopping  short  at  these  words :  "  How  can  we 
admit  your  doctrine,"  said  the  legislator,  "  if  you  will  not 
make  it  known  ?  And  how  did  its  first  authors  propagate  it, 
when,  being  alone  possessed  of  it,  their  own  people  were  to 
them  profane  ?  Did  heaven  reveal  it  to  be  kept  a  secret  ?  "f 

But  the  Bramins  persisting  in  their  silence  :    "  Let  them 

*  These  are  the  sacred  volumes  of  the  Hindoos ;  they  are  sometimes  written 
Vedams,  Pouranams,  Chastrans,  because  the  Hindoos,  like  the  Persians,  are 
accustomed  to  give  a  nasal  sound  to  the  terminations  of  their  words,  which  we 
represent  by  the  affixes  on  and  an,  and  the  Portuguese  by  the  affixes  otn  and  am. 
Many  of  these  books  have  been  translated,  thanks  to  the  liberal  spirit  of  Mr. 
Hastings,  who  has  founded  at  Calcutta  a  literary  society,  and  a  printing  press. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  that  we  express  our  gratitude  to  this  society,  we 
must  be  permitted  to  complain  of  its  exclusive  spirit ;  the  number  of  copies 
printed  of  each  book  being  such  as  it  is  impossible  to  purchase  them  even  in 
England  ;  they  are  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  East  India  proprietors.  Scarcely 
even  is  the  Asiatic  Miscellany  known  in  Europe  ;  and  a  man  must  be  very  learned 
in  oriental  antiquity  before  he  so  much  as  hears  of  the  Jones's,  the  Wilkins's,  and 
the  Halhed's,  etc.  As  to  the  sacred  books  of  the  Hindoos,  all  that  are  yet  in  our 
hands  are  the  Bhagvat  Geeta,  the  Ezour-Vedam,  the  Bagavadam,  and  certain 
fragments  of  the  Chastres  printed  at  the  end  of  the  Bhagvat  Geeta.  These  books  . 
are  in  Indostan  what  the  Old  and  New  Testament  are  in  Christendom,  the  Koran 
in  Turkey,  the  Zadder  and  the  Zendavesta  among  the  Parses,  etc.  When  I  have 
taken  an  extensive  survey  of  their  contents,  I  have  sometimes  asked  myself,  what 
would  be  the  loss  to  the  human  race  if  a  new  Omar  condemned  them  to  the 
flames  ;  and,  unable  to  discover  any  mischief  that  would  ensue,  I  call  the  imagin- 
ary chest  that  contains  them,  the  box  of  Pandora. 

fThe  Vedas  or  Vedams  are  the  sacred  volumes  of  the  Hindoos,  as  the  Bibles 
with  us.  They  are  three  in  number  ;  the  Rick  Veda,  the  Yadjour  Veda,  and  the 
Sama  Veda ;  they  are  so  scarce  in  India,  that  the  English  could  with  great  diffi- 
culty find  an  original  one,  of  which  a  copy  is  deposited  in  the  British  Museum  ; 
they  who  reckon  four  Vedas,  include  among  them  the  Attar  Veda,  concerning 
ceremonies,  but  which  is  lost.  There  are  besides  commentaries  named  Upanish- 
ada,  one  of  which  was  published  by  Anquetil  du  Peron,  and  entitled  Oupnekhat, 
a  curious  work.  The  date  of  these  books  is  more  than  twenty-five  centuries  prior 
to  our  era  ;  their  contents  prove  that  all  the  reveries  of  the  Greek  metaphysicians 
come  from  India  and  Egypt.  Since  the  year  1788,  the  learned  men  of  England 
are  working  in  India  a  mine  of  literature  totally  unknown  in  Europe,  and  which 
proves  that  the  civilization  of  India  ascends  to  a  very  remote  antiquity.  After 
the  Vedas  come  the  Chastras  amounting  to  six.  They  treat  of  theology  and  the 
Sciences.  Afterwards  eighteen  Pouranas,  treating  of  Mythology  and  History. 
See  thf  Bahgouet-guita,  the  Baga  Vadam,  and  the  Ezour-Vedam,  etc, 


THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES.  IOI 

have  the  honor  of  the  secret,"  said  a  European  :  "  Their  doc- 
trine is  now  divulged  ;  we  have  their  books,  and  I  can  give 
you  the  substance  of  them." 

Then  beginning  with  an  abstract  of  the  four  Vedes,  the 
eighteen  Pourans,  and  the  five  or  six  Chastres,  he  recounted 
how  a  being,  infinite,  eternal,  immaterial  and  round,  after 
having  passed  an  eternity  in  self-contemplation,  and  deter- 
mining at  last  to  manifest  himself,  separated  the  male  and 
female  faculties  which  were  in  him,  and  performed  an  act  of 
generation,  of  which  the  Lingam  remains  an  emblem ;  how 
that  first  act  gave  birth  to  three  divine  powers,  Brama,  Bichen 
or  Vichenou,  and  Chib  or  Chiven  ;  *  whose  functions  were — the 
first  to  create,  the  second  to  preserve,  and  the  third  to  destroy, 
or  change  the  form  of  the  universe.  Then,  detailing  the  his- 
tory of  their  operations  and  adventures,  he  explained  how 
Brama,  proud  of  having  created  the  world  and  the  eight 
bobouns,  or  spheres  of  probation,  thought  himself  superior  to 
Chib,  his  equal ;  how  his  pride  brought  on  a  battle  between 
them,  in  which  these  celestial  globes  were  crushed  like  a 
basket  of  eggs;  how  Brama,  vanquished  in  this  conflict,  was 
reduced  to  serve  as  a  pedestal  to  Chib,  metamorphosed  into 
a  Lingam  ;  how  Vichenou,  the  god  mediator,  has  taken  at 
different  times  to  preserve  the  world,  nine  mortal  forms  of 
animals ;  how  first,  in  shape  of  a  fish,  he  saved  from  the 
universal  deluge  a  family  who  repeopled  the  earth  ;  how  after- 
wards, in  the  form  of  a  tortoise.f  he  drew  from  the  sea  of  milk 
the  mountain  Mandreguiri  (the  pole) ;  then,  becoming  a  boar, 
he  tore  the  belly  of  the  giant  Ereuniachessen.  who  was 
drowning  the  earth  in  the  abyss  of  Djole,  from  whence  he 
drew  it  out  with  his  tusks  ;  how,  becoming  incarnate  in  a 
black  shepherd,  and  under  the  name  of  Christ-en,  he  delivered 

*  These  names  are  differently  pronounced  according  to  the  different  dialects  ; 
thus  they  say  Birmah,  Bremnta,  Brouma.  Bichen  has  been  turned  into  Vichen 
by  the  easy  exchange  of  a  B  for  a  V,  and  into  Vichenou  by  means  of  a  grammatical 
affix.  In  the  same  manner  Chib,  which  is  synonymous  with  Satan,  and  signifies 
adversary,  is  frequently  written  Chiba  and  Chiv-en  ;  he  is  called  also  Rouder  and 
Routr-en,  that  is,  the  destroyer. 

t  This  is  the  constellation  testudo,  or  the  Irye,  which  was  at  first  a  tortoise,  on 
account  of  its  slow  motion  round  the  Pole  ;  then  a  lyre,  because  it  is  the  shell  of 
this  reptile  on  which  the  strings  of  the  lyre  are  mounted.  See  an  excellent 
memoir  of  M.  Dttpuis  sur  /'  Origine  des  Constellations. 


102  THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

the  world  of  the  enormous  serpent  Calengem,  and  then  crush- 
ed his  head,  after  having  been  wounded  by  him  in  the  heel. 

Then,  passing  on  to  the  history  of  the.  secondary  Genii,  he 
related  how  the  Eternal,  to  display  his  own  glory,  created 
various  orders  of  angels,  whose  business  it  was  to  sing  his 
praises  and  to  direct  the  universe  ;  how  a  part  of  these  angels 
revolted  under  the  guidance  of  an  ambitious  chief,  who  strove 
to  usurp  the  power  of  God,  and  to  govern  all ;  how  God 
plunged  them  into  a  world  of  darkness,  there  to  undergo  the 
punishment  for  their  crimes  ;  how  at  last,  touched  with  com- 
passion, he  consented  to  release  them,  to  receive  them  into 
favor,  after  they  should  undergo  a  long  series  of  probations  ; 
how,  after  creating  for  this  purpose  fifteen  orbits  or  regions 
of  planets,  and  peopling  them  with  bodies,  he  ordered  these 
rebel  angels  to  undergo  in  them  eighty-seven  transmigrations; 
he  then  explained  how  souls,  thus  purified,  returned  to  the  first 
source,  to  the  ocean  of  life  and  animation  from  which  they  had 
proceeded  ;  and  since  all  living  creatures  contain  portions  of 
this  universal  soul,  he  taught  how  criminal  it  was  to  deprive 
them  of  it.  He  was  finally  proceeding  to  explain  the  rites  and 
ceremonies,  when,  speaking  of  offerings  and  libations  of  milk 
and  butter  made  to  gods  of  copper  and  wood,  and  then  of 
purifications  by  the  dung  and  urine  of  cows,  there  arose  a 
universal  murmur,  mixed  with  peals  of  laughter,  which  inter- 
rupted the  orator. 

Each  of  the  different  groups  began  to  reason  on  that 
religion :  "  They  are  idolaters,"  said  the  Mussulmans ;  "  and 
should  be  exterminated."  "  They  are  deranged  in  their 
intellect,"  said  the  followers  of  Confucius  ;  "  we  must  try  to 
cure  them."  "  What  ridiculous  gods,"  said  others,  "  are  these 
puppets,  besmeared  with  grease  and  smoke  !  Are  gods  to  be 
washed  like  dirty  children,  from  whom  you  must  brush  away 
the  flies,  which,  attracted  by  honey,  are  fouling  them  with 
their  excrements !  " 

But  a  Bramin  exclaimed  with  indignation  :  "  These  are 
profound  mysteries, —  emblems  of  truth,  which  you  are  not 
worthy  to  hear." 

"  And  in  what  respect  are  you  more  worthy  than  we  ?  "  ex- 
claimed a  Lama  of  Tibet.  ,"  Is  it  because  you  pretend  to 
have  issued  from  the  head  of  Brama,  and  the  rest  of  the 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  103 

human  race  from  the  less  noble  parts  of  his  body  ?  But  to 
support  the  pride  of  your  distinctions  of  origin  and  castes, 
prove  to  us  in  the  first  place  that  you  are  different  from  other 
men ;  establish,  in  thje  next  place,  as  historical  facts,  the  - 
allegories  which  you  relate  ;  show  us,  indeed,  that  you  are  the 
authors  of  all  this  doctrine ;  for  we  will  demonstrate,  if  nec- 
essary, that  you  have  only  stolen  and  disfigured  it ;  that  you 
are  only  the  imitators  of  the  ancient  paganism  of  the  West ; 
to  which,  by  an  ill  assorted  mixture,  you  have  allied  the  pure 
and  spiritual  doctrine  of  our  gods — a  doctrine  totally  detached 
from  the  senses,  and  entirely  unknown  on  earth  till  Beddou 
taught  it  to  the  nations."* 

A  number  of  groups  having  asked  what  was  this  doctrine, 
and  who  was  this  god,  of  whom  the  greater  part  had  never 
heard  the  name,  the  Lama  resumed  and  said  : 

"  In  the  beginning,  a  sole-existent  and  self-existent  God, 
having  passed  an  eternity  in  the  contemplation  of  his  own 
being,  resolved  to  manifest  his  perfections  out  of  himself, 
and  created  the  matter  of  the  world.  The  four  elements  being 
produced,  but  still  in  a  state  of  confusion,  he  breathed  on  the 
face  of  the  waters,  which  swelled  like  an  immense  bubble  in 
form  of  an  egg,  which  unfolding,  became  the  vault  or  orb  of 
heaven,  enclosing  the  world.f  Having  made  the  earth,  and 
the  bodies  of  animals,  this  God,  essence  of  motion,  imparted 
to  them  a  part  of  his  own  being  to  animate  them ;  for  this 
reason,  the  soul  of  everything  that  breathes  being  a  portion 

*  All  the  ancient  opinions  of  the  Egyptian  and  Grecian  theologians  are  to  be 
found  in  India,  and  they  appear  to  have  been  introduced,  by  means  of  the  com- 
merce of  Arabia  and  the  vicinity  of  Persia,  time  immemorial. 

t  This  cosmogony  of  the  Lamas,  the  Bonzes,  and  even  the  Bramins,  as  Henry 
Lord  asserts,  is  literally  that  of  the  ancient  Egyptians.  The  Egyptians,  says 
Porphyry,  call  Kneph,  intelligence,  or  efficient  cause  of  the  universe.  They 
relate  that  this  God  vomited  an  egg,  from  which  was  produced  another  God 
named  Phtha  or  Vulcan,  (igneous  principle  or  the  sun)  and  they  add,  that  this 
egg  is  the  world.  Euseb.  Prcep.  Evang.  p.  115. 

They  represent,  says  the  same  author  in  another  place,  the  God  Kneph,  or 
efficient  cause,  under  the  form  of  a  man  in  deep  blue  (the  color  of  the  sky)  having 
in  his  hand  a  sceptre,  a  belt  round  his  body,  and  a  small  bonnet  royal  of  light 
feathers  on  his  head,  to  denote  how  very  subtile  and  fugacious  the  idea  of  that 
being  is.  Upon  which  I  shall  observe  that  Kneph  in  Hebrew  signifies  a  wing,  a 
feather,  and  that  this  color  of  sky-blue  is  to  be  found  in  the  majority  of  the  Indian 
Gods,  and  is,  under  the  name  of  Narayan,  one  of  their  most  distinguishing 
epithets. 


104  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

of  the  universal  soul,  no  one  of  them  can  perish ;  they  only 
change  their  form  and  mould  in  passing  successively  into 
different  bodies.  Of  all  these  forms,  the  one  most  pleasing 
to  God  is  that  of  man,  as  most  resembling  his  own  perfections. 
When  a  man,  by  an  absolute  disengagement  from  his  senses, 
is  wholly  absorbed  in  self-contemplation,  he  then  discovers 
the  divinity,  and  becomes  himself  God.  Of  all  the  incarna- 
tions of  this  kind  that  God  has  hitherto  taken,  the  greatest 
and  most  solemn  was  that  in  which  he  appeared  thirty  centu- 
ries ago  in  Kachemire,  under  the  name  of  Fdt  or  Beddou,  to 
preach  the  doctrines  of  self-denial  and  self-annihilation." 

Then,  pursuing  the  history  of  Fdt,  the  Lama  continued  : 

"  He  was  born  from  the  right  flank  of  a  virgin  of  royal 
blood,  who  did  not  cease  to  be  a  virgin  for  having  become  a 
mother;  that  the  king  of  the  country,  uneasy  at  his  birth, 
wished  to  destroy  him,  and  for  this  purpose  ordered  a  massa- 
cre of  all  the  males  born  at  that  period,  that  being  saved  by 
shepherds,  Beddou  lived  in  the  desert  till  the  age  of  thirty 
years,  at  which  time  he  began  his  mission  to  enlighten  men 
and  cast  out  devils  ;  that  he  performed  a  multitude  of  the 
most  astonishing  miracles ;  that  he  spent  his  life  in  fasting 
and  severe  penitence,  and  at  his  death,  bequeathed  to  his  dis- 
ciples a  book  containing  his  doctrines." 

And  the  Lama  began  to  read : 

"  He  that  leaveth  his  father  and  mother  to  follow  me,"  says 
Fdt,  "  becomes  a  perfect  Samanean  (a  heavenly  man). 

"  He  that  practices  my  precepts  to  the  fourth  degree  of 
perfection,  acquires  the  faculty  of  flying  in  the  air,  of  moving 
heaven  and  earth,  of  prolonging  or  shortening  his  life  (rising 
from  the  dead). 

"  The  Samanean  despises  riches,  and  uses  only  what  is 
strictly  necessary  ;  he  mortifies  his  body,  silences  his  pas- 
sions, desires  nothing,  forms  no  attachments,  meditates  my 
doctrines  without  ceasing,  endures  injuries  with  patience,  and 
bears  no  malice  to  his  neighbor.  • 

"  Heaven  and  earth  shall  perish,"  says  Fdt :  "  despise 
therefore  your  bodies,  which  are  composed  of  the  four  perish- 
able elements,  and  think  only  of  your  immortal  soul. 

"  Listen  not  to  the  flesh  :  fear  and  sorrow  spring  from  the 
passions :  stifle  the  passions  and  you  destroy  fear  and  sorrow. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  IO5 

"  Whoever  dies  without  having  embraced  my  religion," 
says  Fdt,  "  returns  among  men,  until  he  embraces  it." 

The  Lama  was  going  on  with  his  reading,  when  the  Chris- 
tians interrupted  him,  crying  out  that  this  was  their  own 
religion  adulterated  —  that  F6t  was  no  other  than  Jesus  him- 
self disfigured,  and  that  the  Lamas  were  the  Nestorians  and 
the  Manicheans  disguised  and  bastardized.* 

But  the  Lama,  supported  by  the  Chamans,  Bonzes,  Gonnis, 
Talapoins  of  Siam,  of  Ceylon,  of  Japan,  and  of  China,  proved 
to  the  Christians,  even  from  their  own  authors,  that  the  doc- 
trine of  the  Samaneans  was  known  through  the  East  more 
than  a  thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era ;  that  their 
name  was  cited  before  the  time  of  Alexander,  and  that  Boutta, 
or  Beddou,  was  known  before  Jesus.f 

*  This  is  asserted  by  our  missionaries,  and  among  others  by  Georgi  in  his  un- 
finished work  of  the  Thibetan  alphabet :  but  if  it  can  be  proved  that  the  Maniche- 
ans were  but  plagiarists,  and  the  ignorant  echo  of  a  doflrine  that  existed  fifteen 
hundred  years  before  them,  what  becomes  of  the  declarations  of  Georgi?  See 
upon  this  subjedt,  Beausob.  Hist,  du  Manicheisme. 

t  The  eastern  writers  in  general  agree  in  placing  the  birth  of  Beddou  1027  years 
before  Jesus  Christ,  which  makes  him  the  contemporary  of  Zoroaster,  with 
whom,  in  my  opinion,  they  confound  him.  It  is  certain  that  his  doctrine  notori- 
ously existed  at  that  epoch  ;  it  is  found  entire  in  that  of  Orpheus,  Pythagoras,  and 
the  Indian  gymnosophists.  But  the  gymnosophists  are  cited  at  the  time  of  Alex- 
ander as  an  ancient  se£l  already  divided  into  Brachmans  and  Samaneans.  See 
Bardesanes  en  Saint  Jerome,  Epitre  d  yovien.  Pythagoras  lived  in  the  ninth 
century  before  Jesus  Christ ;  See  Chronology  of  the  twelve  ages  ;  and  Orpheus  is 
of  still  greater  antiquity.  If,  as  is  the  case,  the  doctrine  of  Pythagoras  and  that 
of  Orpheus  are  of  Egyptian  origin,  that  of  Beddou  goes  back  to  the  common 
source ;  and  in  reality  the  Egyptian  priests  recite,  that  Hermes  as  he  was  dying 
.said:  "I  have  hitherto  lived  an  exile  from  my  country,  to  which  I  now  return. 
Weep  not  for  me,  I  ascend  to  the  celestial  abode  where  each  of  you  will  follow  in 
his  turn  :  there  God  is  :  this  life  is  only  death."  —  Chalcidius  in  Thinaeum. 

Such  was  the  profession  of  faith  of  the  Samaneans,  the  sectaries  of  Orpheus,  and 
the  Pythagoreans.  Farther,  Hermes  is  no  other  than  Beddou  himself;  for  among 
the  Indians,  Chinese,  Lamas,  etc.,  the  planet  Mercury  and  the  corresponding  day 
of  the  week  (Wednesday)  bear  the  name  of  Beddou,  and  this  accounts  for  his 
being  placed  in  the  rank  of  mythological  beings,  and  discovers  the  illusion  of  his 
pretended  existence  as  a  man  ;  since  it  is  evident  that  Mercury  was  not  a  human 
being,  but  the  Genius  or  Decan,  who,  placed  at  the  summer  solstice,  opened  the 
Egyptian  year ;  hence  his  attributes  taken  from  the  constellation  Syrius,  and  his 
name  of  Anubis,  as  well  as  that  of  Esculapius,  having  the  figure  of  a  man  and  the 
head  of  a  dog  :  hence  his  serpent,  which  is  the  Hydra,  emblem  of  the  Nile  (Hydor, 
humidity) ;  and  from  this  serpent  he  seems  to  have  derived  his  name  of  Hermes, 
as  Remes  (with  a  schin)  in  the  oriental  languages,  signifies  serpent.  Now  Beddou 
and  Hermes  being  the  same  names,  it  is  manifest  of  what  antiquity  is  the  system 
ascribed  to  the  former.  As  to  the  name  of  Samanean,  it  is  precisely  that  of 


106  THE  RUIFS  OF  EMPIRES. 

Then,  retorting  the  pretensions  of  the  Christians  against 
themselves  :  "  Prove  to  us,"  said  the  Lama,  "  that  you  are  not 
Samaneans  degenerated,  and  that  the  man  you  make  the 
author  of  your  sect  is  not  F6t  himself  disguised.  Prove  to  us 
by  historical  facts  that  he  even  existed  at  the  epoch  you  pre- 
tend ;  for,  it  being  destitute  of  authentic  testimony,*  we  abso- 
lutely deny  it ;  and  we  maintain  that  your  very  gospels  are 
only  the  books  of  some  Mithriacs  of  Persia,  and  the  Essenia*hs 
of  Syria,  who  were  a  branch  of  reformed  Samaneans. "f 

Chaman,  still  preserved  in  Tartary,  China,  and  India.  The  interpretation  given 
to  it  is,  man  of  the  woods,  a  hermit  mortifying  the  flesh,  such  being  the  character- 
istic of  this  sect;  but  its  literal  meaning  is,  celestial  (Samaoui)  and  explains  the 
system  of  those  who  are  called  by  it.  —  The  system  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  sec- 
taries of  Orpheus,  of  the  Essenians,  of  the  ancient  Anchorets  of  Persia,  and  the 
whole  eastern  country.  See  Porphyry,  de  Abstin.  Animal. 

These  celestial  and  penitent  men  carried  in  India  their  insanity  to  such  an  ex- 
treme as  to  wish  not  to  touch  the  earth,  and  they  accordingly  lived  in  cages 
suspended  from  the  trees,  where  the  people,  whose  admiration  was  not  less 
absurd,  brought  them  provisions.  During  the  night  there  were  frequent  robber- 
ies, rapes  and  murders,  and  it  was  at  length  discovered  that  they  were  committed 
by  those  men,  who,  descending  from  their  cages,  thus  indemnified  themselves  for 
their  restraint  during  the  day.  The  Bramins,  their  rivals,  embraced  the  oppor- 
tunity of  exterminating  them ;  and  from  that  time  their  name  in  India  has  been 
synonymous  with  hypocrite.  See  Hist,  de  la  Chine,  in  5  vols.  quarto,  at  the  note 
page  30 ;  Hist,  de  Huns,  2  vols.  and  preface  to  the  Ezour-  Vedam. 

*  There  are  absolutely  no  other  monuments  of  the  existence  of  Jesus  Christ 
as  a  human  being,  than  a  passage  in  Josephus  (Antiq.  7ud.  lib.  18,  c.j,)  a  single 
phrase  in  Tacitus  (Anna!,  lib.  15,  c.  44,)  and  the  Gospels.  But  the  passage  in 
Josephus  is  unanimously  acknowledged  to  be  apocryphal,  and  to  have  been  inter- 
polated towards  the  close  of  the  third  century,  (See  Trad,  de  Joseph,  par  M. 
Gittel) ;  and  that  of  Tacitus  in  so  vague  and  so  evidently  taken  from  the  deposi- 
tion of  the  Christians  before  the  tribunals,  that  it  may  be  ranked  in  the  class  of 
evangelical  records.  It  remains  to  enquire  of  what  authority  are  these  records. 
"All  the  world  knows,"  says  Faustus,  who,  though  a  Manichean,  was  one  of  the 
most  learned  men  of  the  third  century,  "  All  the  world  knows  that  the  gospels 
were  neither  written  by  Jesus  Christ,  nor  his  apostles,  but  by  certain  unknown 
persons,  who  rightly  judging  that  they  should  not  obtain  belief  respecting  things 
which  they  had  not  seen,  placed  at  the  head  of  their  recitals  the  names  of  con- 
temporary apostles."  See  Beausob.  vol.  i.  and  Hist,  des  Apologistes  de  la  Relig. 
Chret.  par  Btirigni,  a  sagacious  writer,  who  has  demonstrated  the  absolute  un- 
certainty of  those  foundations  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  so  that  the  existence  of 
Jesus  is  no  better  proved  than  that  of  Osiris  and  Hercules,  or  that  of  Fot  or 
Beddou,  with  whom,  says  M.  de  Guignes,  the  Chinese  continually  confound  him, 
for  they  never  call  Jesus  by  any  other  name  than  F6t.  Hist,  de  Huns. 

t  That  is  to  say,  from  the  pious  romances  formed  out  of  the  sacred  legends  of 
the  mysteries  of  Mithra,  Ceres,  Isis,  etc.,  from  whence  are  equally  derived  the 
books  of  the  Hindoo^  and  the  Bonzes.  Our  missionaries  have  long  remarked  a 
striking  resemblance  between  those  books  and  the  gospels.  M.  Wilkins  expressly 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  1OJ 

At  these  words,  the  Christians  set  up  a  general  cry, 
and  a  new  dispute  was  about  to  begin ;  when  a  number  of 
Chinese  Chamans,  and  Talapoins  of  Siam,  came  forward  and 
said  that  they  would  settle  the  whole  controversy.  And  one 
of  them  speaking  for  the  whole  exclaimed :  "  It  is  time  to  put 
an  end  to  these  frivolous  contests  by  drawing  aside  the  veil 
from  the  interior  doctrine  that  F6t  himself  revealed  to  his 
disciples  on  his  death  bed.* 

"  All  these  theological  opinions,"  continued  he,  "  are  but 
chimeras.  All  the  stories  of  the  nature  of  the  gods,  of  their 
actions  and  their  lives,  are  but  allegories  and  mythological 
emblems,  under  which  are  enveloped  ingenious  ideas  of 
morals,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  operations  of  nature  in  the 
action  of  the  elements  and  the  movement  of  the  planets. 

"  The  truth  is,  that  all  is  reduced  to  nothing  —  that  all  is 
illusion,  appearance,  dream ;  that  the  moral  metempsychosis 
is  only  the  figurative  sense  of  the  physical  metempsychosis, 
or  the  successive  movement  of  the  elements  of  bodies  which 
perish  not,  but  which,  having  composed  one  body,  pass  when 
that  is  dissolved,  into  other  mediums  and  form  other  com- 
binations. The  soul  is  but  the  vital  principle  which  results 
from  the  properties  of  matter,  and  from  the  action  of  the 
elements  in  those  bodies  where  they  create  a  spontaneous 
movement.  To  suppose  that  this  product  of  the  play  of  the 
organs,  born  with  them,  matured  with  them,  and  which  sleeps 
with  them,  can  subsist  when  they  cease,  is  the  romance  of 
a  wandering  imagination,  perhaps  agreeable  enough,  but 
really  chimerical. 

God  itself  is  nothing  more  than  the  moving  principle,  the 
occult  force  inherent  in  all  beings  —  the  sum  of  their  laws  and 

mentions  it  in  a  note  in  the  Bhagvat  Geeta.  All  agree  that  Krisna,  F6t,  and  Jesus 
have  the  same  characteristic  features :  but  religious  prejudice  has  stood  in  the 
way  of  drawing  from  this  circumstance  the  proper  and  natural  inference.  To 
time  and  reason  must  it  be  left  to  display  the  truth. 

*  The  Budsoists  have  two  doctrines,  the  one  public  and  ostensible,  the  other 
interior  and  secret,  precisely  like  the  Egyptian  priests.  It  may  be  asked,  why 
this  distinction  ?  It  is,  that  as  the  public  doctrine  recommends  offerings,  expia- 
tions, endowments,  etc.,  the  priests  find  their  profit  in  preaching  it  to  the  people  ; 
whereas  the  other,  teaching  the  vanity  of  worldly  things,  and  attended  with  no 
lucre,  it  is  thought  proper  to  make  it  known  only  to  adepts.  Can  the  teachers 
and  followers  of  this  religion  be  better  classed  than  under  the  heads  of  knavery 
and  credulity  ? 


io8  THE  kuiNs  OF  EMPIRES. 

properties  —  the  animating  principle;  in  a  word,  the  soul  of 
the  universe  ;  which  on  account  of  the  infinite  variety  of  its 
connections  and  its  operations,  sometimes  simple,  some- 
times multiple,  sometimes  active,  sometimes  passive,  has 
always  presented  to  the  human  mind  an  unsolvable  enigma. 
All  that  man  can  comprehend  with  certainty  is,  that  matter 
does  not  perish  ;  that  it  possesses  essentially  those  properties 
by  which  the  world  is  held  together  like  a  living  and  organ- 
ized being ;  that  the  knowledge  of  these  laws  with  respect  to 
man  is  what  constitutes  wisdom  ;  that  virtue  and  merit 
consist  in  their  observance;  and  evil,  sin,  and  vice,  in  the 
ignorance  and  violation  of  them ;  that  happiness  and  misery 
result  from  these  by  the  same  necessity  which  makes  heavy 
bodies  descend  and  light  ones  rise,  and  by  a  fatality  of  causes 
and  effects,  whose  chain  extends  from  the  smallest  atom  to 
the  greatest  of  the  heavenly  bodies."  * 

At  these  words,  a  crowd  of  theologians  of  every  sect  cried 
out  that  this  doctrine  was  materialism,  and  that  those  who 
profess  it  were  impious  atheists,  enemies  to  God  and  man, 
who  must  be  exterminated.  "  Very  well,"  replied  the  Chamans, 
"  suppose  we  are  in  error,  which  is  not  impossible,  since  the 
first  attribute  of  the  human  mind  is  to  be  subject  to  illusion  ; 
but  what  right  have  you  to  take  away  from  men  like  your- 
selves, the  life  which  Heaven  has  given  them  ?  If  Heaven 
holds  us  guilty  and  in  abhorrence,  why  does  it  impart  to  us 
the  same  blessings  as  to  you  ?  And  if  it  treats  us  with 
forbearance,  what  authority  have  you  to  be  less  indulgent  ? 
Pious  men !  who  speak  of  God  with  so  much  certainty  and 
confidence,  be  so  good  as  to  tell  us  what  it  is ;  give  us  to 
comprehend  what  those  abstract  and  metaphysical  beings 
are,  which  you  call  God  and  soul,  substance  without  matter, 
existence  without  body,  life  without  organs  or  sensation.  If 
you  know  those  beings  by  your  senses  or  their  reflections, 
render  them  in  like  manner  perceptible  to  us ;  or  if  you 
speak  'of  them  on  testimony  and  tradition,  show  us  a  uniform 
account,  and  give  a  determinate  basis  to  our  creed." 

*  These  are  the  very  expressions  of  La  Loubre,  in  his  description  of  the  king- 
dom of  Siam  and  the  theology  of  the  Bronzes.  Their  dogmas,  compared  with 
those  of  the  ancient  philosophers  of  Greece  and  Italy,  give  a  complete  represen- 
tation of  the  whole  system  of  the  Stoics  and  Epicureans,  mixed  with  astrological 
superstitions,  and  some  traits  of  Pythagorism. 


THE    RUINS    OF    EMPIRES.  log 

There  now  arose  among  the  theologians  a  great  controversy 
respecting  God  and  his  nature,  his  manner  of  acting,  and  of 
manifesting  himself ;  on  the  nature  of  the  soul  and  its  union 
with  the  body ;  whether  it  exists  before  the  organs,  or  only 
after  they  are  formed ;  on  the  future  life,  and  the  other  world. 
And  every  sect,  every  school,  every  individual,*  differing  on 
all  these  points,  and  each  assigning  plausible  reasons,  and 
respectable  though  opposite  authorities  for  his  opinion,  they 
fell  into  an  inextricable  labyrinth  of  contradictions. 

Then  the  legislator,  having  commanded  silence  and  recalled 
the  dispute  to  its  true  object,  said :  "  Chiefs  and  instructors  of 
nations ;  you  came  together  in  search  of  truth.  At  first,  every 
one  of  you,  thinking  he  possessed  it,  demanded  of  the  others 
an  implicit  faith  ;  but  perceiving  the  contrariety  of  your 
opinions,  you  found  it  necessary  to  submit  them  to  a  common 
rule  of  evidence,  and  to  bring  them  to  one  general  term  of 
comparison  ;  and  you  agreed  that  each  should  exhibit  the 
proofs  of  his  doctrine.  You  began  by  alleging  facts ;  but 
each  religion  and  every  sect,  being  equally  furnished  with 
miracles  and  martyrs,  each  producing  an  equal  number  of 
witnesses,  and  offering  to  support  them  by  a  voluntary  death, 
the  balance  on  this  first  point,  by  right  of  parity,  remained 
equal. 

"  You  then  passed  to  the  trial  of  reasoning;  but  the  same 
arguments  applying  equally  to  contrary  positions  —  the  same 
assertions,  equally  gratuitous,  being  advanced  and  repelled 
with  equal  force,  and  all  having  an  equal  right  to  refuse  his 
assent,  nothing  was  demonstrated.  What  is  more,  the  con- 
frontation of  your  systems  has  brought  up  more  and  extraor- 
dinary difficulties  ;  for  amid  the  apparent  or  adventitious 
diversities,  you  have  discovered  a  fundamental  resemblance, 
a  common  groundwork  ;  and  each  of  you  pretending  to  be 
the  inventor,  and  first  depositary,  have  taxed  each  other 
with  adulterations  and  plagiarisms  ;  and  thence  arises  a  diffi- 
cult question  concerning  the  transmission  of  religious  ideas 
from  people  to  people. 

"  Finally,  to  complete  your  embarrassment  :  when  you 
endeavored  to  explain  your  doctrines  to  each  other,  they 
appeared  confused  and  foreign,  even  to  their  adherents  ;  they 
were  founded  on  ideas  inaccessible  to  your  senses  ;  you 


110  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

consequently  had  no  means  of  judging  of  them,  and  you  con- 
fessed yourselves  in  this  respect  to  be  only  the  echoes  of 
your  fathers.  Hence  follows  this  other  question  :  how  came 
they  to  the  knowledge  of  your  fathers,  who  themselves  had 
no  other  means  than  you  to  conceive  them  ?  So  that,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  succession  of  these  ideas  being  unknown,  and 
on  the  other,  their  origin  and  existence  being  a  mystery,  all 
the  edifice  of  your  religious  opinions  becomes  a  complicated 
problem  of  metaphysics  and  history. 

"Since,  however,  these  opinions,  extraordinary  as  they 
may  be,  must^  have  had  snmg^nri^in  ;  since  even  the  most 
abstract  and  fantastical  ideas  have  some  physical  model,  Jt 
may  be  useful  to  recurCto  this^origin£and  discover  this  model 
—  in  a  word,  to  find  out  from  what  source  the  human  under- 
standing has  drawn  these  ideas,  ac  present  so  obscure,  of  God, 
of  the  soul,  of  all  immaterial  beings,  which  make  the  basis  of 
so  many  systems ;  to  unfold  the  filiation  which  they  have  fol- 
lowed, and  the  alterations  which  they  have  undergone  in  their 
transmissions  and  ramifications.  If,  then,  there  are  any  per- 
sons present  who  have  made  a  study  of  these  objects,  let  them 
come  forward,  and  endeavor,  in  the  face  of  nations,  to  dis- 
sipate the  obscurity  in  which  their  opinions  have  so  long 
remained." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

ORIGIN  AND  FILIATION  OF  RELIGIOUS  IDEAS. 

AT  these  words,  a  new  group,  formed  in  an  instant  by  men 
from  various  standards,  but  not  distinguished  by  any, 
came  forward  into  the  circle ;  and  one  of  them  spoke 
in  the  name  of  the  whole  : 

"  Delegates,  friends  of  evidence  and  virtue !  It  is  not  sur- 
prising that  the  subject  in  question  should  be  enveloped  in  so 
many  clouds,  since,  besides  its  inherent  difficulties,  thought 
itself  has  always  been  encumbered  with  superadded  obstacles 
peculiar  to  this  study,  where  all  free  enquiry  and  discussion 


THE   RUINS  OF   EMPIRES.  Ill 

have  been  interdicted  by  the  intolerance  of  every  system. 
But  now  that  our  views  are  permitted  to  expand,  we  will  ex- 
pose to  open  day,  and  submit  to  the  judgment  of  nations,  that 
which  unprejudiced  minds,  after  long  researches,  have  found 
to  be  the  most  reasonable  ;  and  we  do  this,  not  with  the 
pretension  of  imposing  a  new  creed,  but  with  the  hope  of 
provoking  new  lights,  and  obtaining  better  information. 

"  Doctors  and  instructors  of  nations !  You  know  what  thick 
darkness  covers  the  nature,  the  origin,  the  history  of  the  dog- 
mas which  you  teach.  Imposed  by  authority,  inculcated  by 
education,  and  maintained  by  example,  they  pass  from  age  to 
age,  and  strengthen  their  empire  from  habit  and  inattention. 
But  if  man,  enlightened  by  reflection  and  experience,  brings 
to  mature  examination  the  prejudices  of  his  childhood,  he 
soon  discovers  a  multitude  of  incongruities  and  contradictions 
which  awaken  his  sagacity  and  excite  his  reasoning  powers. 

"  At  first,  remarking  the  diversity  and  opposition  of  the 
creeds  which  divide  the  nations,  he  takes  courage  to  question 
the  infallibility  which  each  of  them  claims,  and  arming  him- 
self with  their  reciprocal  pretensions,  he  conceives  that  his 
senses  and  his  reason,  derived  immediately  from  God,  are  a 
law  not  less  holy,  a  guide  not  less  sure,  than  the  mediate  and 
contradictory  codes  of  the  prophets. 

"  If  he  then  examines  the  texture  of  these  codes  themselves, 
he  observes  that  their  laws,  pretended  to  be  divine,  that  is, 
immutable  and  eternal,  have  arisen  from  circumstances  of 
times,  places,  and  persons  ;  that  they  have  issued  one  from 
the  other,  in  a  kind  of  genealogical  order,  borrowing  from 
each  other  reciprocally  a  common  and  similar  fund  of  ideas, 
which  every  lawgiver  modifies  according  to  his  fancy. 

"  If  he  ascends  to  the  source  of  these  ideas,  he  finds  it  in- 
volved in  the  night  of  time,  in  th'e  infancy  of  nations,  even  to 
the  origin  of  the  world,  to  which  they  claim  alliance ;  and 
there,  placed  in  the  darkness  of  chaos,  in  the  empire  of  fables 
and  traditions,  they  present  themselves,  accompanied  with 
a  state  of  things  so  full  of  prodigies,  that  it  seems  to  forbid 
all  access  to  the  judgment  :  but  this  state  itself  excites  a 
first  effort  of  reason,  which  resolves  the  difficulty  ;  for  if  the 
prodigies,  found  in  the  theological  systems,  have  really  ex- 
isted—  if,  for  instance,  the  metamorphoses,  the  apparitions, 


112  THE   RUIN'S   OF   EMPIRES. 

the  conversations  with  one  or  many  gods,  recorded  in  the 
books  of  the  Indians,  the  Hebrews,  the  Parses,  are  historical 
events,  he  must  agree  that  nature  in  those  times  was  totally 
different  from  what  it  is  at  present ;  that  the  present  race  of 
men  are  quite  another  species  from  those  who  then  existed  ; 
and,  therefore,  he  ought  not  to  trouble  his  head  about  them. 

"  If,  on  the  contrary,  these  miraculous  events  have  really 
not  existed  in  the  physical  order  of  things,  then  he  readily 
conceives  that  they  are  creatures  of  the  human  intellect ;  and 
this  faculty  being  still  capable  of  the  most  fantastical  com- 
binations, explains  at  once  the  phenomenon  of  these  monsters 
in  history.  It  only  remains,  then,  to  find  how  and  wherefore 
they  have  been  formed  in  the  imagination.  Now,  if  we  ex- 
amine with  care  the  subjects  of  these  intellectual  creations, 
analyze  the  ideas  which  they  combine  and  associate,  and 
carefully  weigh  all  the  circumstances  which  they  allege,  we 
shall  find  that  this  first  obscure  and  incredible  state  of  things 
is  explained  by  the  laws  of  nature.  We  find  that  these  stories 
of  a  fabulous  kind  have  a  figurative  sense  different  from  the 
apparent  one  ;  that  these  events,  pretended  to  be  marvellous, 
are  simple  and  physical  facts,  which,  being  misconceived  or 
misrepresented,  have  been  disfigured  by  accidental  causes 
/  dependent  on  the  human  mind,  by  the  confusion  of  signs  em- 
ployed to  represent  theTSeas,  the  want  of  precision  in  words, 
permanence  in  language,  and  perfection  in  writing  ;  we  find 
that  these  gods,  for  instance,  who  display  such  singular  char- 
acters in  every  system,  are  only  the  physical  agents  of  nature, 
the  elements,  the  winds,  the  stars,  and  the  meteors,  which 
have  been  personified  by  the  necessary  mechanism  of  lan- 
guage and  of  the  human  understanding  ;  .that  their  lives,  their 
manners,  their  actions,  are  only  their  mechanical  operations 
and  connections  ;  and  that  all  their  pretended  history  is  only 
the  description  of  these  phenomena,  formed  by  the  first  natu- 
ralists who  observed  them,  and  misconceived  by  the  vulgar 
who  did  not  understand  them,  or  by  succeeding  generations 
who  forgot  them.  In  a  word,  all  the  theological  dogmas  on  the 
origin  of  the  world,  the  nature  of  God,  the  revelation  of  his 
laws,  the  manifestation  of  his  person,  are  known  to  be  only  the 
recital  of  astronomical  facts,  only  figurative  and  emblematical 
accounts  of  the  motion  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  We  are  con- 


THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  113 

vinced  that  the  very  idea  of  a  God,  that  idea  at  present  so 
obscure,  is,  in  its  first  origin,  nothing  but  that  of  the  physical 
powers  of  the  universe,  considered  sometimes  as  a  plurality 
by  reason  of  their  agencies  and  phenomena,  sometimes  as 
one  simple  and  only  being  by  reason  of  the  universality  of  the 
machine  and  the  connection  of  its  parts  ;  so  that  the  being 
called  God  has  been  sometimes  the  wind,  the  fire,  the  water, 
all  the  elements  ;  sometimes  the  sun,  the  stars,  the  planets, 
and  their  influence  ;  sometimes  the  matter  of  the  visible 
world,  the  totality  of  the  universe ;  sometimes  abstract  and 
metaphysical  qualities,  such  as  space,  duration,  motion,  intelli- 
gence ;  and  we  everywhere  see  this  conclusion,  that  the  idea 
of  God  has  not  been  a  miraculous  revelation  of  invisible 
beings,  but  a  natural  offspring  of  the  human  intellect — an 
operation  of  the  mind,  whose  progress  it  has  followed  and 
whose  revolutions  it  has  undergone,  in  all  the  progress  that 
has  been  made  in  the  knowledge  of  the  physical  world  and 
its  agents. 

"  It  is  then  in  vain  that  nations  attribute  their  religion  to 
heavenly  inspirations ;  it  is  in  vain  that  their  dogmas  pretend 
to  a  primeval  state  of  supernatural  events :  the  original  bar- 
barity of  the  human  race,  attested  by  their  own  monuments,* 
belies  these  assertions  at  once.  But  there  is  one  constant  and 
indubitable  fact  which  refutes  beyond  contradiction  all  these 
doubtful  accounts  of  past  ages.  From  this  position,  that  man 
acquires  and  receives  no  ideas  but  through  the  medium  of  his 
senses,f  it  follows  with  certainty  that  every  notion  which 
claims  to  itself  any  other  origin  than  that  of  sensation  and 
experience,  is  the  erroneous  supposition  of  a  posterior  rea- 
soning :  now,  it  is  sufficient  to  cast  an  eye  upon  the  sacred 
systems  of  the  origin  of  the  world,  and  of  the  actions  of  the 
gods,  to  discover  in  every  idea,  in  every  word,  the  anticipation 
of  an  order  of  things  which  could  not  exist  till  a  long  time 
after.  Reason,  strengthened  by  these  contradictions,  rejecting 

*It  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  history',  and  even  of  legends,  that  the  first 
human  beings  were  every  where  savages,  and  that  it  was  to  civilize  them,  and 
teach  them  to  make  bread,  that  the  Gods  manifested  themselves. 

fThe  rock  on  which  all  the  ancients  have  split,  and  which  has  occasioned  all 
their  errors,  has  been  their  supposing  the  idea  of  God  to  be  innate  and  co-eternal 
with  the  soul ;  and  hence  all  the  reveries  developed  in  Plato  and  Jamblicus.  See 
the  Timceus,  the  Phedon,  and  De  Mysteriis  Egyptiorum,  sect.  I,  c.  3. 


114  THE  RUINS  OF  ftMPIRES. 

everything  that  is  not  in  the  order  of  nature,  and  admitting 
no  historical  facts  but  those  founded  on  probabilities,  lays 
open  its  own  system,  and  pronounces  itself  with  assurance. 

"  Before  one  nation  had  received  from  another  nation  dog- 
mas already  invented ;  before  one  generation  had  inherited 
ideas  acquired  by  a  preceding  generation,  none  of  these  com- 
plicated systems  could  have  existed  in  the  world.  The  first 
men,  being  children  of  nature,  anterior  to  all  events,  ignorant 
of  all  science,  were  born  without  any  idea  of  the  dogmas 
arising  from  scholastic  disputes ;  of  rites  founded  on  the 
practice  of  arts  not  then  known  ;  of  precepts  framed  after  the 
development  of  passions  ;  or  of  laws  which  suppose  a  lan- 
guage, a  state  of  society  not  then  in  being  ;  or  of  God,  whose 
attributes  all  refer  to  physical  objects,  and  his  actions  to  a 
despotic  state  of  government ;  or  of  the  soul,  or  of  any  of 
those  metaphysical  beings,  which  we  are  told  are  not  the 
objects  of  sense,  and  for  which,  however,  there  can  be  no  other 
means  of  access  to  the  understanding.  To  arrive  at  so  many 
results,  the  necessary  circle  of  preceding  facts  must  have  been 
observed  ;  slow  experience  and  repeated  trials  must  have 
taught  the  rude  man  the  use  of  his  organs  ;  the  accumulated 
knowledge  of  successive  generations  must  have  invented  and 
improved  the  means  of  living  ;  and  the  mind,  freed  from  the 
cares  of  the  first  wants  of  nature,  must  have  raised  itself  to  the 
complicated  art  of  comparing  ideas,  of  digesting  arguments, 
and  seizing  abstract  similitudes. 

I.  Origin  of  the  idea  of  God:    Worship  of  the  elements  and  of 
the  physical  powers  of  nature. 

"  It  was  not  till  after  having  overcome  these  obstacles,  and 
gone  through  a  long  career  in  the  night  of  history,  that  man, 
reflecting  on  his  condition,  began  to  perceive  that  he  was 
subjected  to  forces  superior  to  his  own,  and  independent  of 
his  will.  The  sun  enlightened  and  warmed  him,  the  fire 
burned  him,  the  thunder  terrified  him,  the  wind  beat  upon 
him,  the  water  overwhelmed  him.  All  beings  acted  upon 
him  powerfully  and  irresistibly.  He  sustained  this  action  for 
a  long  time,  like  a  machine,  without  enquiring  the  cause;  but 
the  moment  he  began  his  enquiries,  he  fell  into  astonishment ; 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  115 

and,  passing  from  the  surprise  of  his  first  reflections  to  the 
reverie  of  curiosity,  he  began  a  chain  of  reasoning. 

"  First,  considering  the  action  of  the  elements  on  him,  he 
conceived  an  idea  of  weakness  and  subjection  on  his  part, 
and  of  power  and  domination  on  theirs ;  and  this  idea  of 
power  was  the  primitive  and  fundamental  type  of  every  idea 
of  God. 

"  Secondly,  the  action  of  these  natural  existences  excited  in 
him  sensations  of  pleasure  or  pain,  of  good  or  evil ;  and  by  a 
natural  effect  of  his  organization,  he  conceived  for  them  love 
or  aversion  ;  he  desired  or  dreaded  their  presence  ;  and  fear 
or  hope  gave  rise  to  the  first  idea  of  religion. 

"  Then,  judging  everything  by  comparison,. and  remarking 
in  these  beings  a  spontaneous  movement  like  his  own,  he 
supposed  this  movement  directed  by  a  will, — an  intelligence  of 
the  nature  of  his  own  ;  and  hence,  by  induction,  he  formed  a 
new  reasoning.  Having  experienced  that  certain  practices 
towards  his  fellow  creatures  had  the  effect  to  modify  their 
affections  and  direct  their  conduct  to  his  advantage,  he 
resorted  to  the  same  practices  towards  these  powerful  beings 
of  the  universe.  He  reasoned  thus  with  himself:  When  my 
fellow  creature,  stronger  than  I,  is  disposed  to  do  me  injury, 
I  abase  myself  before  him,  and  my  prayer  has  the  art  to  calm 
him.  I  will  pray  to  these  powerful  beings  who  strike  me.  I 
will  supplicate  the  intelligences  of  the  winds,  of  the  stars,  of 
the  waters,  and  they  will  hear  me.  I  will  conjure  them  to 
avert  the  evil  and  give  me  the  good  that  is  at  their  disposal ; 
I  will  move  them  by  my  tears,  I  will  soften  them  by  offerings, 
and  I  shall  be  happy. 

"  Thus  simple  man,  in  the  infancy  of  his  reason,  spoke  to 
the  sun  and  to  the  moon  ;  he  animated  with  his  own  under- 
standing and  passions  the  great  agents  of  nature  ;  he  thought 
by  vain  sounds,  and  vain  actions,  to  change  their  inflexible 
laws.  Fatal  error  !  He  prayed  the  stone  to  ascend,  the 
water  to  mount  above  its  level,  the  mountains  to  remove,  and 
substituting  a  fantastical  world  for  the  real  one,  he  peopled  it 
with  imaginary  beings,  to  the  terror  of  his  mind  and  the  tor- 
ment of  his  race. 

"  In  this  manner  the  ideas  of  God  and  religion  have  sprung, 
like  all  others,  from  physical  objects ;  they  were  produced  in 


Il6  THE   RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

the  mind  of  man  from  his  sensations,  from  his  wants,  from  the 
circumstances  of  his  life,  and  the  progressive  state  of  his 
knowledge. 

"  Now,  as  the  ideas  of  God  had  their  first  models  in  physical 
agents,  it  followed  that  God  was  at  first  varied  and  manifold, 
like  the  form  under  which  he  appeared  to  act.  Every  being 
was  a  Power,  a  Genius;  and  the  first  men  conceived  the 
universe  filled  with  innumerable  gods. 

"  Again  the  ideas  of  God  have  been  created  by  the  affections 
of  the  human  heart ;  they  became  necessarily  divided  into  two 
classes,  according  to  the  sensations  of  pleasure  or  pain,  love 
or  hatred,  which  they  inspired. 

"  The  forces  of  nature,  the  gods  and  genii,  were  divided 
into  beneficent  and  malignant,  good  and  evil  powers  ;  and 
hence  the  universality  of  these  two  characters  in  all  the  sys- 
tems of  religion. 

"  These  ideas,  analogous  to  the  condition  of  their  inventors, 
were  for  a  long  time  confused  and  ill-digested.  Savage  men, 
wandering  in  the  woods,  beset  with  wants  and  destitute  of 
resources,  had  not  the  leisure  to  combine  principles  and  draw 
conclusions  ;  affected  with  more  evils  than  they  found  pleas- 
ures, their  most  habitual  sentiment  was  that  of  fear,  their 
theology  terror  ;  their  worship  was  confined  to  a  few  saluta- 
tions and  offerings  to  beings  whom  they  conceived  as  greedy 
and  ferocious  as  themselves.  In  their  state  of  equality  and 
independence,  no  man  offered  himself  as  mediator  between 
men  and  gods  as  insubordinate  and  poor  as  himself.  No  one 
having  superfluities  to  give,  there  existed  no  parasite  by  the 
name  of  priest,  no  tribute  by  the  name  of  victim,  no  empire 
by  the  name  of  altar.  Their  dogmas  and  their  morals  were 
the  same  thing,  it  was  only  self-preservation ;  and  religion, 
that  arbitrary  idea,  without  influence  on  the  mutual  relations 
of  men,  was  a  vain  homage  rendered  to  the  visible  powers 
of  nature. 

"  Such  was  the  necessary  and  original  idea  of  God." 

And  the  orator,  addressing  himself  to  the  savage  nations, 
continued : 

"  We  appeal  to  you,  men  who  have  received  no  foreign 
and  factitious  ideas  ;  tell  us,  have  you  ever  gone  beyond 
what  I  have  described  ?  And  you,  learned  doctors,  we  call 


THE   RUINS   Of   EMPIRES.  IIJ 

you  to  witness ;  is  not  this  the  unanimous  testimony  of  all 
ancient  monuments  ?  * 

II.    Second  system  :    Worship  of  the  Stars,  or  Sabeism. 

"  But  those  same  monuments  present  us  likewise  a  system 
more  methodical  and  more  complicated  —  that  of  the  worship 
of  all  the  stars  ;  adored  sometimes  in  their  proper  forms, 
sometimes  under  figurative  emblems  and  symbols  ;  and  this 
worship  was  the  effect  of  the  knowledge  men  had  acquired  in 
physics,  and  was  derived  immediately  from  the  first  causes  of 
the  social  state ;  that  is,  from  the  necessities  and  arts  of  the 
first  degree,  which  are  among  the  elements  of  society. 

*  It  clearly  results,  says  Plutarch,  from  the  verses  of  Orpheus  and  the  sacred 
books  of  the  Egyptians  and  Phrygians,  that  the  ancient  theology,  not  only  of  the 
Greeks,  but  of  all  nations,  was  nothing  more  than  a  system  of  physics,  a  picture 
of  the  operations  of  nature,  wrappe<Lup  in  mysterious  allegories  and  enigmatical 
symbols,  in  a  manner  that  the  ignorant  multitude  attended  rather  to  their  appar- 
ent than  to  their  hidden  meaning,  and  even  in  what  they  understood  of  the  latter, 
supposed  there  to  be  something  more  deep  than  what  they  perceived.  Fragment 
of  a  work  of  Plutarch  now  lost,  quoted  by  Eusebius,  Prcepar.  Evang.  lib.  3,  ch.  I, 
p.  83. 

The  majority  of  philosophers,  says  Porphyry,  and  among  others  Haeremon 
(who  lived  in  Egypt  in  the  first  age  of  Christianity),  imagine  there  never  to  have 
been  any  other  world  than  the  one  we  see,  and  acknowledged  no  other  Gods  of 
all  those  recognized  by  the  Egyptians,  than  such  as  are  commonly  called  planets, 
signs  of  the  Zodiac,  and  constellations ;  whose  aspects,  that  is,  rising  and  setting, 
are  supposed  to  influence  the  fortunes  of  men  ;  to  which  they  add  their  divisions 
of  the  signs  into  decans  and  dispensers  of  time,  whom  they  style  lords  of  the  as- 
cendant, whose  names,  virtues  in  relieving  distempers,  rising,  setting,  and  pre- 
sages of  future  events,  are  the  subjects  of  almanacs  (for  be  it  observed,  that  the 
Egyptian  priests  had  almanacs  the  exact  counterpart  of  Matthew  Lansberg's) ; 
for  when  the  priests  affirmed  that  the  sun  was  the  architect  of  the  universe, 
Chseremon  presently  concludes  that  all  their  narratives  respecting  Isis  and 
Osiris,  together  with  their  other  sacred  fables,  referred  in  part  to  the  planets,  the 
phases  of  the  moon,  and  the  revolution  of  the  sun,  and  in  part  to  the  stars  of  the 
daily  and  nightly  hemispheres  and  the  river  Nile;  in  a  word,  in  all  cases  to 
physical  and  natural  existences  and  never  to  such  as  might  be  immaterial  and  in- 
corporeal. .  .  . 

All  these  philosophers  believe  that  the  acts  of  our  will  and  the  motion  of  our 
bodies  depend  on  those  of  the  stars  to  which  they  are  subjected,  and  they  refer 
every  thing  to  the  laws  of  physical  necessity,  which  they  call  destiny  or  Fatum, 
supposing  a  chain  of  causes  and  effects  which  binds,  by  I  know  not  what  connec- 
tion, all  beings  together,  from  the  meanest  atom  to  the  supremest  power  and 
primary  influence  of  the  Gods  ;  so  that,  whether  in  their  temples  or  in  their  idols, 
the  only  subject  of  worship  is  the  power  of  destiny.  Porphyr,  Epist.  ad  ya- 
tiebonem. 


Il8  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

"  Indeed,  as  soon  as  men  began  to  unite  in  society,  it  be- 
came necessary  for  them  to  multiply  the  means  of  subsistence, 
and  consequently  to  attend  to  agriculture  :  agriculture,  to  be 
carried  on  with  success,  requires  the  observation  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  heavens.  It  was  necessary  to  know  the  periodical 
return  of  the  same  operations  of  nature,  and  the  same  phe- 
nomena in  the  skies  ;  indeed  to  go  so  far  as  to  ascertain  the 
duration  and  succession  of  the  seasons  and  the  months  of  the 
year.  It  was  indispensable  to  know,  in  the  first  place,  the 
course  of  the  sun,  who,  in  his  zodiacal  revolution,  shows  him- 
self the  supreme  agent  of  the  whole  creation ;  then,  of  the 
moon,  who,  by  her  phases  and  periods,  regulates  and  dis- 
tributes time  ;  then,  of  the  stars,  and  even  of  the  planets, 
which  by  their  appearance  and  disappearance  on  the  horizon 
and  nocturnal  hemisphere,  marked  the  minutest  divisions." 
Finally,  it  was  necessary  to  form  a  whole  system  of  astrono- 
my,* or  a  calendar ;  and  from  th^se  works  there  naturally 
followed  a  new  manner  of  considering  these  predominant  and 
governing  powers.  Having  observed  that  the  productions 
of  the  earth  had  a  regular  and  constant  relation  with  the 
heavenly  bodies ;  that  the  rise,  growth,  and  decline  of  each 
plant  kept  pace  with  the  appearance,  elevation,  and  declina- 
tion of  the  same  star,  or  the  same  group  of  stars  ;  in  short, 
that  the  languor  or  activity  of  vegetation  seemed  to  depend 
on  celestial  influences,  men  drew  from  thence  an  idea  of 
action,  of  power,  in  those  beings,  superior  to  earthly  bodies ; 
and  the  stars,  dispensing  plenty  or  scarcity,  became  powers, 
genii.f  gods,  authors  of  good  and  evil. 

"  As  the  state  of  society  had  already  introduced  a  regular 
hierarchy  of  ranks,  employments  and  conditions,  men,  con- 

*It  continues  to  be  repeated  every  day,  on  the  indirect  authority  of  the  book  of 
Genesis,  that  astronomy  was  the  invention  of  the  children  of  Noah.  It  has  been 
gravely  said,  that  while  wandering  shepherds  in  the  plains  of  Shinar,  they  em- 
ployed their  leisure  in  composing  a  planetary  system :  as  if  shepherds  had 
occasion  to  know  more  than  the  polar  star ;  and  if  necessity  was  not  the  sole 
motive  of  every  invention  !  If  the  ancient  shepherds  were  so  studious  and 
sagacious,  how  does  it  happen  that  the  modern  ones  are  so  stupid,  ignorant,  and 
inattentive  ?  And  it  is  a  fa6l  that  the  Arabs  of  the  desert  know  not  so  many  as 
six  constellations,  and  understand  not  a  word  of  astronomy. 

t  It  appears  that  by  the  word  genius,  the  ancients  denoted  a  quality,  a  genera- 
tive power  ;  for  the  following  words,  which  are  all  of  one  family,  convey  this 
meaning :  generare,  genos,  genesis,  genus,  gens. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  IIQ 

tinuing  to  reason  by  comparison,  carried  their  new  notions 
into  their  theology,  and  formed  a  complicated  system  of  divin- 
ities by  gradation  of  rank,  in  which  the  sun,  as  first  god,*  was 
a  military  chief  or  a  political  king :  the  moon  was  his  wife  and 
queen  ;  the  planets  were  servants,  bearers  of  commands, 
messengers  ;  and  the  multitude  of  stars  were  a  nation,  an  army 
of  heroes,  genii,  whose  office  was  to  govern  the  world  under 
the  orders  of  their  chiefs.  All  the  individuals  had  names, 
functions,  attributes,  drawn  from  their  relations  and  influ- 
ences ;  and  even  sexes,  from  the  gender  of  their  appellations/)- 

"  And  as  the  social  state  had  introduced  certain  usages  and 
ceremonies,  religion,  keeping  pace  with  the  social  state, 
adopted  similar  ones  ;  these  ceremonies,  at  first  simple  and 
private,  became  public  and  solemn  ;  the  offerings  became 
rich  and  more  numerous,  and  the  rites  more  methodical ;  they 
assigned  certain  places  for  the  assemblies,  and  began  to  have 
chapels  and  temples ;  they  instituted  officers  to  administer 
them,  and  these  became  priests  and  pontiffs  ;  they  established 
liturgies,  and  sanctified  certain  days,  and  religion  became  a 
civil  act,  a  political  tie. 

"  But  in  this  arrangement,  religion  did  not  change  its  first 
principles  ;  the  idea  of  God  was  always  that  of  physical  beings, 
operating  good  or  evil,  that  is,  impressing  sensations  of 
pleasure  or  pain :  the  dogma  was  the  knowledge  of  their  laws, 
or  their  manner  of  acting  ;  virtue  and  sin,  the  observance  or 
infraction  of  these  laws  ;  and  morality,  in  its  native  simplicity, 
was  the  judicious  practice  of  whatever  contributes  to  the 
preservation  of  existence,  the  well-being  of  one's  self  and  his 
fellow  creatures.^ 

"The  Sabeans,  ancient  and  modern,  says  Maimonides,  acknowledge  a  principal 
God,  the  maker  and  inhabitant  of  heaven  ;  but  on  account  of  his  great  distance 
they  conceive  him  to  be  inaccessible  ;  and  in  imitation  of  the  conduct  of  people 
towards  their  kings,  they  employ  as  mediators  with  him,  the  planets  and  their 
angels,  whom  they  call  princes  and  potentates,  and  whom  they  suppose  to  reside 
in  those  luminous  bodies  as  in  palaces  or  tabernacles,  etc.  More-Nebuchim. 

t  According  as  the  gender  of  the  object  was  in  the  language  of  the  nation  mas- 
culine or  feminine,  the  Divinity  who  bore  its  name  was  male  or  female.  Thus  the 
Cappadocians  called  the  moon  God,  and  the  sun  Goddess  ;  a  circumstance  which 
gives  to  the  same  beings  a  perpetual  variety  in  ancient  mythology. 

J  We  may  add,  says  Plutarch,  that  these  Egyptian  priests  always  regarded  the 
preservation  of  health  as  a  point  of  the  first  importance,  and  as  indispensably 
necessary  to  the  practice  of  piety  and  the  service  of  the  gods.  See  his  account 
of  Isis  and  Osiris,  towards  the  end. 


120  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

"  Should  it  be  asked  at  what  epoch  this  system  took  its 
birth,  we  shall  answer  on  the  testimony  of  the  monuments  of 
astronomy  itself,  that  its  principles  appear  with  certainty  to 
have  been  established  about  seventeen  thousand  years  ago.* 
and  if  it  be  asked  to  what  people  it  is  to  be  attributed,  we 
shall  answer  that  the  same  monuments,  supported  by  unani- 
mous traditions,  attribute  it  to  the  first  tribes  of  Egypt  ;  and 
when  reason  finds  in  that  country  all  the  circumstances  which 
could  lead  to  such  a  system  ;  when  it  finds  there  a  zone  of 
sky,  bordering  on  the  tropic,  equally  free,  from  the  rains  of  the 
equator  and  the  fogs  of  the  North ;  f  when  it  finds  there  a 
central  point  of  the  sphere  of  the  ancients,  a  salubrious  climate, 
a  great,  but  manageable  river,  a  soil  fertile  without  art  or 
labor,  inundated  without  morbid  exhalations,  and  placed  be- 
tween two  seas  which  communicate  with  the  richest  coun- 
tries, it  conceives  that  the  inhabitant  of  the  Nile,  addicted  to 
agriculture  from  the  nature  of  his  soil,  to  geometry  from  the 
annual  necessity  of  measuring  his  lands,  to  commerce  from 

*  The  historical  orator  follows  here  the  opinion  of  M.  Dupuis,  who,  in  his  learned 
memoirs  concerning  the  Origin  of  the  Constellations  and  Origin  of  all  Worship, 
has  assigned  many  plausible  reasons  to  prove  that  Libra  was  formerly  the  sign  of 
the  vernal,  and  Aries  of  the  autumnal  equinox ;  that  is,  that  since  the  origin  of 
the  actual  astronomical  system,  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes  has  carried  for- 
ward by  seven  signs  the  primitive  order  of  the  Zodiac.  Now  estimating  the  pre- 
cession at  about  seventy  years  and  a  half  to  a  degree,  that  is,  2,115  ivears  to  each 
sign:  and  observing  that  Aries  was  in  its  fifteenth  degree,  1,447  years  before 
Christ,  it  follows  that  the  first  degree  of  Libra  could  not  have  coincided  with  the 
vernal  equinox  more  lately  than  15,194  years  before  Christ ;  now,  if  you  add  1790 
years  since  Christ,  it  appears  that  16,984  years  have  elapsed  since  the  origin  of  the 
Zodiac.  The  vernal  equinox  coincided  with  the  first  degree  of  Aries,  2.504  years 
before  Christ,  and  with  the  first  degree  of  Taurus  4,619  years  before  Christ.  Now 
it  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  worship  of  the  Btril  is  the  principal  article  in  the 
theological  creed  of  the  Egyptians,  Persians,  Japanese,  etc. ;  from  whence  it 
clearly  follows,  that  some  general  revolution  took  place  among  these  nations  at 
that  time.  The  chronology  of  five  or  six  thousand  years  in  Genesis  is  little  agree- 
able to  this  hypothesis  ;  but  as  the  book  of  Genesis  cannot  claim  to  be  considered 
as  a  history-  farther  back  than  Abraham,  we  are  at  liberty  to  make  what  arrange- 
ments we  please  in  the  eternity  that  preceded.  See  on  this  subjedl  the  analysis 
of  Genesis,  in  the  first  volume  of  New  Researches  on  Ancient  History,-  see  also 
Origin  of  Constellations,  by  Dupuis,  1781 ;  the  Origin  of  Worship,  in  3  vols.  1794, 
and  the  Chronological  Zodiac,  1806. 

|M.  Balli,  in  placing  the  first  astronomers  at  Selingenskoy,  near  the  Bailkal 
paid  no  attention  to  this  twofold  circumstance  :  it  equally  argues  against  their 
being  placed  at  Axoum  on  account  of  the  rains,  and  the  Zimb  fly  of  which  Mr. 
Bruce  speaks. 


THE   RUINS   OF    EMPIRES.  121 

the  facility  of  communications,  to  astronomy  from  the  state 
of  his  sky,  always  open  to  observation,  must  have  been  the 
first  to  pass  from  the  savage  to  the  social  state  ;  and  conse- 
quently to  attain  the  physical  and  moral  sciences  necessary 
to  civilized  life. 

"  It  was,  then,  on  the  borders  of  the  upper  Nile,  among  a 
black  race  of  men,  that  was  organized  the  complicated  system 
of  the  worship  of  the  stars,  considered  in  relation  to  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  earth  and  the  labors  of  agriculture  ;  and  this 
first  worship,  characterized  by  their  adoration  under  their  own 
forms  and  natural  attributes,  was  a  simple  proceeding  of  the 
human  mind.  But  in  a  short  time,  the  multiplicity  of  the 
objects  of  their  relations,  and  their  reciprocal  influence,  having 
complicated  the  ideas,  and  the  signs  that  represented  them, 
there  followed  a  confusion  as  singular  in  its  cause  as  perni- 
cious in  its  effects. 

III.    Third  system.      Worship  of  Symbols,  or  Idolatry. 

"  As  soon  as  this  agricultural  people  began  to  observe  the 
stars  with  attention,  they  found  it  necessary  to  individualize 
or  group  them  ;  and  to  assign  to  each  a  proper  name,  in  order 
to  understand  each  other  in  their  designation.  A  great 
difficulty  must  have  presented  itself  in  this  business :  First, 
the  heavenly  bodies,  similar  in  form,  offered  no  distinguishing 
characteristics  by  which  to  denominate  them  ;  and,  secondly, 
the  language  in  its  infancy  and  poverty,  had  no  expressions 
for  so  many  new  and  metaphysical  ideas.  Necessity,  the 
usual  stimulus  of  genius,  surmounted  everything.  Having 
remarked  that  in  the  annual  revolution,  the  renewal  and 
periodical  appearance  of  terrestrial  productions  were  con- 
stantly associated  with  the  rising  and  setting  of  certain  stars, 
and  to  their  position  as  relative  to  the  sun,  the  fundamental 
term  of  all  comparison,  the  mind  by  a  natural  operation  con- 
nected in  thought  these  terrestrial  and  celestial  objects,  which 
were  connected  in  fact ;  and  applying  to  them  a  common  sign, 
it  gave  to  the  stars,  and  their  groups,  the  names  of  the  terres- 
trial objects  to  which  they  answered.* 

*"The  ancients,"  says  Maimonides,  "directing  all  their  attention  to  agricul- 
ture, gave  names  to  the  stars  derived  from  their  occupation  during  the  year." 
More  Neb.  pars  j. 


122  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

:-  "  Thus  the  Ethopian  of  Thebes  named  stars  of  inundation, 
or  Aquarius,  those  stars 'under  which  the  Nile  began  to  over- 
\i~\~  fl°w  >  *  stars  °f  the  ox  or  the  bull,  those  under  which  they 

began  to  plow  ;  stars  of  the  lion,  those  under  which  that 
animal,  driven  from  the  desert  by  thirst,  appeared  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile  ;  stars  of  the  sheaf,  or  of  the  harvest  virgin, 
those  of  the  reaping  season ;  stars  of  the  lamb,  stars  of  the 
two  kids,  those  under  which  these  precious  animals  were 
brought  forth :  and  thus  was  resolved  the  first  part  of  the 
difficulty. 

"  Moreover,  man  having  remarked  in  the  beings  which 
surrounded  him  certain  qualities  distinctive  and  proper  to 
each  species,  and  having  thence  derived  a  name  by  which  to 
designate  them,  he  found  in  the  same  source  an  ingenious 
mode  of  generalizing  his  ideas ;  and  transferring  the  name 
already  invented  to  every  thing  which  bore  any  resemblance 
or  analogy,  he  enriched  his  language  with  a  perpetual  round 
of  metaphors. 

"  Thus  the  same  Ethiopian  having  observed  that  the  return 
of  the  inundation  always  corresponded  with  the  rising  of  a 
beautiful  star  which  appeared  towards  the  source  of  the  Nile, 
and  seemed  to  warn  the  husbandman  against  the  coming 
waters,  he  compared  this  action  to  that  of  the  animal  who,  by 
his  barking,  gives  notice  of  danger,  and  he  called  this  star  the 
dog,  the  barker  (Sirius).  In  the  same  manner  he  named  the 
stars  of  the  crab,  those  where  the  sun,  having  arrived  at  the 
tropic,  retreated  by  a  slow  retrograde  motion  like  the  crab  or 
cancer.  He  named  stars  of  the  wild  goat,  or  Capricorn,  those 
where  the  sun,  having  reached  the  highest  point  in  his 
annuary  tract,  rests  at  the  summit  of  the  horary  gnomon,  and 
imitates  the  goat,  who  delights  to  climb  the  summit  of  the 
rocks.  He  named  stars  of  the  balance,  or  libra,  those  where 
the  days  and  nights,  being  equal,  seertied  in  equilibrium,  like 
that  instrument ;  and  stars  of  the  scorpion,  those  where  cer- 
tain periodical  winds  bring  vapors,  burning  like  the  venom  of 
the  scorpion.  In  the  same  manner  he  called  by  the  name  of 
rings  and  serpents  the  figured  traces  of  the  orbits  of  the  stars 
and  the  planets,  and  such  was  the  general  mode  of  naming 
all  the  stars  and  even  the  planets,  taken  by  groups  or  as 

*  This  must  have  been  June. 


THE   RUINS  OF   EMPIRES.  123 

individuals,  according  to  their  relations  with  husbandry  and' 
terrestrial  objects,  and  according  to  the  analogies  which  each 
nation  found  between  them  and  the  objects  of  its  particular 
soil  and  climate.* 

"  From  this  it  appeared  that  abject  and  terrestrial  beings 
became  associated  with  the  superior  and  powerful  inhabitants 
of  heaven ;  and  this  association  became  stronger  every  day 
by  the  mechanism  of  language  and  the  constitution  of  the 
human  mind.  Men  would  say  by  a  natural  metaphor :  The 
bull  spreads  over  the  earth  the  germs  of  fecundity  (in  spring) ; 
he  restores  vegetation  and  plenty  :  the  lamb  (or  ram)  delivers 
the  skies  from  the  malificent  powers  of  winter ;  he  saves  the 
world  from  the  serpent  (emblem  of  the  humid  season)  and 
restores  the  empire  of  goodness  (summer,  joyful  season):  the 
scorpion  pours  out  his  poison  on  the  earth,  and  scatters  dis- 
eases and  death.  The  same  of  all  similar  effects. 

"  This  language,  understood  by  every  one,  was  attended  at 
first  with  no  inconvenience  ;  but  in  the  course  of  time,  when 
the  calendar  had  been  regulated,  the  people,  who  had  no 
longer  any  need  of  observing  the  heavens,  lost  sight  of  the 
original  meaning  of  these  expressions ;  and  the  allegories 
remaining  in  common  use  became  a  fatal  stumbling  block  to 
the  understanding  and  to  reason.  Habituated  to  associate  to 
the  symbols  the  ideas  of  their  archetypes,  the  mind  at  last 
confounded  them  :  then  the  same  animals,  whom  fancy  had 
transported  to  the  skies,  returned  again  to  the  earth  ;  but 
being  thus  returned,  clothed  in  the  livery  of  the  stars,  they 
claimed  the  stellary  attributes,  and  imposed  on  their  own 
authors.  Then  it  was  that  the  people,  believing  that  they  saw 
their  gods  among  them,  could  pray  to  them  with  more  con- 
venience :  they  demanded  from  the  ram  of  their  flock  the 
influences  which  might  be  expected  from  the  heavenly  ram  ; 
they  prayed  the  scorpion  not  to  pour  out  his  venom  upon 
nature  ;  they  revered  the  crab  of  the  sea,  the  scarabeus  of  the 
mud,  the  fish  of  the  river ;  and  by  a  series  of  corrupt  but 
inseparable  analogies,  they  lost  themselves  in  a  labyrinth  of 
well  connected  absurdities. 

*The  ancients  had  verbs  from  the  substantives  crab,  goat,  tortoise,  as  the 
French  have  at  present  the  verbs  serpenter,  coquetter.  The  history  of  all 
languages  is  nearly  the  same. 


124  THE   RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

"  Such  was  the  origin  of  that  ancient  whimsical  worship  of 
the  animals ;  such  is  the  train  of  ideas  by  which  the  character 
of  the  divinity  became  common  to  the  vilest  of  brutes,  and  by 
which  was  formed  that  theological  system,  extremely  com- 
prehensive, complicated,  and  learned,  which,  rising  on  the 
borders  of  the  Nile,  propagated  from  country  to  country  by 
commerce,  war,  and  conquest,  overspread  the  whole  of  the 
ancient  world ;  and  which,  modified  by  time,  circumstances 
and  prejudices,  is  still  seen  entire  among  a  hundred  nations, 
and  remains  as  the  essential  and  secret  basis  of  the  theology 
of  those  even  who  despise  and  reject  it." 

Some  murmurs  at  these  words  being  heard  from  various 
groups  :  "  Yes !  "  continued  the  orator,  "  hence  arose,  for  in- 
stance, among  you,  nations  of  Africa,  the  adoration  of  your 
fetiches,  plants,  animals,  pebbles,  pieces  of  wood,  before  which 
your  ancestors  would  not  have  had  the  folly  to  bow,  if  they 
had  not  seen  in  them  talismans  endowed  with  the  virtue  of 
the  stars.* 

"  Here,  ye  nations  of  Tartary,  is  the  origin  of  your  marmo- 
sets, and  of  all  that  train  of  animals  with  which  your  chamans 
ornament  their  magical  robes.  This  is  the  origin  of  those 
figures  of  birds  and  of  snakes  which  savage  nations  imprint 
upon  their  skins  with  sacred  and  mysterious  ceremonies. 

"  Ye  inhabitants  of  India  !   in  vain  you   cover  yourselves 

*The  ancient  astrologers,  says  the  most  learned  of  the  Jews  (Maimonides)i 
having  sacredly  assigned  to  each  planet  a  color,  an  animal,  a  tree,  a  metal,  a 
fruit,  a  plant,  formed  from  them  all  a  figure  or  representation  of  the  star,  taking 
care  to  select  for  the  purpose  a  proper  moment,  a  fortunate  day,  such  as  the  con- 
junction of  the  star,  or  some  other  favorable  aspect.  They  conceived  that  by 
their  magic  ceremonies  they  could  introduce  into  those  figures  or  idols  the  influ- 
ences of  the  superior  beings  after  which  they  were  modeled.  These  were  the 
idols  that  the  Chaldean-Sabeans  adored  ;  and  in  the  performance  of  their  worship 
they  were  obliged  to  be  dressed  in  the  proper  color.  The  astrologers,  by  their 
practices,  thus  introduced  idolatry,  desirous  of  being  regarded  as  the  dispensers 
of  the  favors  of  heaven :  and  as  agriculture  was  the  sole  employment  of  the 
ancients,  they  succeeded  in  persuading  them  that  the  rain  and  other  blessings  of 
the  seasons  were  at  their  disposal.  Thus  the  whole  art  of  agriculture  was  exer- 
cised by  rules  of  astrology,  and  the  priests  made  talismans  or  charms  which  were 
to  drive  away  locusts,  flies,  etc.  See  Maimonides,  More  Nebuchim.  pars  3,  c.  29. 

The  priests  of  Egypt,  Persia,  India,  etc.,  pretended  to  bind  the  Gods  to  their 
idols,  and  to  make  them  come  from  heaven  at  their  pleasure.  They  threatened 
the  sun  and  moon,  if  they  were  disobedient,  to  reveal  the  secret  mysteries,  to 
shake  the  skies,  etc.,  etc.  Euseb.  Pracep.  Evang.  p.  198,  and  Jamblicus  dt 
Mysteriis  s&gypt. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  125 

with  the  veil  of  mystery :  the  hawk  of  your  god  Vichenou  is 
but  one  of  the  thousand  emblems  of  the  sun  in  Egypt ;  and 
your  incarnations  of  a  god  in  the  fish,  the  boar,  the  lion,  the 
tortoise,  and  all  his  monstrous  adventures,  are  only  the  meta- 
morphoses of  the  sun,  who,  passing  through  the  signs  of  the 
twelve  animals  (or  the  zodiac),  was  supposed  to  assume  their 
figures,  and  perform  their  astronomical  functions.* 

"  People  of  Japan,  your  bull,  which  breaks  the  mundane 
egg,  is  only  the  bull  of  the  zodiac,  which  in  former  times 
opened  the  seasons,  the  age  of  creation,  the  vernal  equinox. 
It  is  the  same  bull  Apis  which  Egypt  adored,  and  which  your 
ancestors,  Jewish  Rabbins,  worshipped  in  the  golden  calf. 
This  is  still  your  bull,  followers  of  Zoroaster,  which,  sacrificed 
in  the  symbolic  mysteries  of  Mithra,  poured  out  his  blood 
which  fertilized  the  earth.  And  ye  Christians,  your  bull  of 
the  Apocalypse,  with  his  wings,  symbol  of  the  air,  has  no 
other  origin ;  and  your  lamb  of  God,  sacrificed,  like  the  bull 
of  Mithra,  for  the  salvation  of  the  world,  is  only  the  same  sun, 
in  the  sign  of  the  celestial  ram,  which,  in  a  later  age,  opening 
the  equinox  in  his  turn,  was  supposed  to  deliver  the  world 
from  evil,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  constellation  of  the  serpent, 
from  that  great  snake,  the  parent  of  winter,  the  emblem  of  the 
Ahrimanes,  or  Satan  of  the  Persians,  your  school  masters. 
Yes,  in  vain  does  your  imprudent  zeal  consign  idolaters  to  the 
torments  of  the  Tartarus  which  they  invented ;  the  whole  basis 
of  your  system  is  only  the  worship  of  the  sun,  with  whose 
attributes  you  have  decorated  your  principal  personage.  It 
is  the  sun  which,  under  the  name  of  Horus,  was  born,  like 
your  God,  at  the  winter  solstice,  in  the  arms  of  the  celestial 
virgin,  and  who  passed  a  childhood  of  obscurity,  indigence, 
and  want,  answering  to  the  season  of  cold  and  frost.  It  is  he 
that,  under  the  name  of  Osiris,  persecuted  by  Typhon  and  by 
the  tyrants  of  the  air,  was  put  to  death,  shut  up  in  a  dark 
tomb,  emblem  of  the  hemisphere  of  winter,  and  afterwards, 
ascending  from  the  inferior  zone  towards  the  zenith  of  heaven, 
arose  again  from  the  dead  triumphant  over  the  giants  and  the 
angels  of  destruction. 

"  Ye  priests !  who  murmur  at  this  relation,  you  wear  his 

*  These  are  the  very  words  of  Jamblicus  de  Symbolis  ^Egyptiorutn,  c.  2,  sect.  7. 
The  sun  was  the  grand  Proteus,  the  universal  metamorphist. 


126  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

emblems  all  over  your  bodies ;  your  tonsure  is  the  disk  of  the 
sun ;  your  stole  is  his  zodiac ;  *  your  rosaries  are  symbols  of 
the  stars  and  planets.  Ye  pontiffs  and  prelates  !  your  mitre, 
your  crozier,  your  mantle  are  those  of  Osiris  ;  and  that  cross, 
whose  mystery  you  extol  without  comprehending  it,  is  the 
cross  of  Serapis,  traced  by  the  hands  of  Egyptian  priests  on 
the  plan  of  the  figurative  world ;  which,  passing  through  the 
equinoxes  and  the  tropics,  became  the  emblem  of  the  future 
life  and  of  the  resurrection,  because  it  touched  the  gates  of 
ivory  and  of  horn,  through  which  the  soul  passed  to  heaven." 

At  these  words,  the  doctors  of  all  the  groups  began  to  look 
at  each  other  with  astonishment ;  but  no  one  breaking  silence, 
the  orator  proceeded : 

"  Three  principal  causes  concur  to  produce  this  confusion 
of  ideas :  First,  the  figurative  expressions  under  which  an 
infant  language  was  obliged  to  describe  the  relations  of  ob- 
jects ;  expressions  which,  passing  afterwards  from  a  limited 
to  a  general  sense,  and  from  a  physical  to  a  moral  one,  caused, 
by  their  ambiguities  and  synonymes,  a  great  number  of 
mistakes. 

"  Thus,  it  being  first  said  that  the  sun  had  surmounted,  or 
finished,  twelve  animals,  it  was  thought  afterwards  that  he  had 
killed  them,  fought  them,  conquered  them  ;  and  of  this  was 
composed  the  historical  life  of  Hercules.f 

"  It  being  said  that  he  regulated  the  periods  of  rural  labor, 
the  seed  time  and  the  harvest,  that  he  distributed  the  seasons 
and  occupations,  ran  through  the  climates  and  ruled  the 
earth,  etc.,  he  was  taken  for  a  legislative  king,  a  conquering 

•"The  Arabs,"  says  Herodotus,  "shave  their  heads  in  a  circle  and  about  the 
temples,  in  imitation  of  Bacchus  (that  is  the  sun),  who  shaves  himself  in  this 
manner."  Jeremiah  speaks  also  of  this  custom.  The  tuft  of  hair  which  the 
Mahometans  preserve,  is  taken  also  from  the  sun.  who  was  painted  by  the  Egyp- 
tians at  the  winter  solstice,  as  having  but  a  single  hair  upon  his  head.  .  .  . 

The  robes  of  the  goddess  of  Syria  and  of  Diana  of  Ephesus,  from  whence  are 
borrowed  the  dress  of  the  priests,  have  the  twelve  animals  of  the  zodiac  painted 
on  them 

Rosaries  are  found  upon  all  the  Indian  idols,  constructed  more  than  four 
thousand  years  ago,  and  their  use  in  the  East  has  been  universal  from  time  im- 
memorial   . 

The  crosier  is  precisely  the  staff  of  Bootes  or  Osiris.   (See  plate.) 

All  theLamas  wear  the  mitre  or  cap  in  the  shape  of  a  cone,  which  was  an  em- 
blem of  the  sun. 

fSee  the  memoir  of  Dupuis  on  the  Origin  of  the  Constellations,  before  cited. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  127 

warrior  ;  and  they  framed  from  this  the  history  of  Osiris,  of 
Bacchus,  and  others  of  that  description. 

"  Having  said  that  a  planet  entered  into  a  sign,  they  made 
of  this  conjunction  a  marriage,  an  adultery,  an  incest*  Having 
said  that  the  planet  was  hid  or  buried,  when  it  came  back  to 
light,  and  ascended  to  its  exaltation,  they  said  that  it  had  died, 
risen  again,  was  carried  into  heaven,  etc. 

"  A  second  cause  of  confusion  was  the  material  figures 
themselves,  by  which  men  first  painted  thoughts  ;  and  which, 
under  the  name  of  hieroglyphics,  or  sacred  characters,  were 
the  first  invention  of  the  mind.  Thus,  to  give  warning  of  the 
inundation,  and  of  the  necessity  of  guarding  against  it,  they 
painted  a  boat,  the  ship  Argo  ;  to  express  the  wind,  they 
painted  the  wing  of  a  bird ;  to  designate  the  season,  or  the 
month,  they  painted  the  bird  of  passage,  the  insect,  or  the 
animal  which  made  its  appearance  at  that  period ;  to  describe 
the  winter,  they  painted  a  hog  or  a  serpent,  which  delight  in 
humid  places,  and  the  combination  of  these  figures  carried 
the  known  sense  of  words  and  phrases.f  But  as  this  sense 

*  These  are  the  very  words  of  Plutarch  in  his  account  of  Isis  and  Osiris.  The 
Hebrews  say,  in  speaking  of  the  generations  of  the  Patriarchs,  et  ingressus  est  in 
earn.  From  this  continual  equivoke  of  ancient  language,  proceeds  every  mistake. 

t  The  reader  will  doubtless  see  with  pleasure  some  examples  of  ancient  hiero- 
glyphics. 

"  The  Egyptians  (says  Hor-appolo)  represent  eternity  by  the  figures  of  the  sun 
and  moon.  They  designate  the  world  by  the  blue  serpent  with  yellow  scales 
(stars,  it  is  the  Chinese  Dragon).  If  they  were  desirous  of  expressing  the  year, 
they  drew  a  picture  of  Isis,  who  is  also  in  their  language  called  Sothis,  or  dog- 
star,  one  of  the  first  constellations,  by  the  rising  of  which  the  year  commences; 
its  inscription  at  Sais  was,  It  is  I  that  rise  in  the  constellation  of  the  Dog. 

"  They  also  represent  the  year  by  a  palm  tree,  and  the  month  by  one  of  its 
branches,  because  it  is  the  nature  of  this  tree  to  produce  a  branch  every  month. 
They  farther  represent  it  by  the  fourth  part  of  an  acre  of  land."  The  whole  acre 
divided  into  four  denotes  the  bissextile  period  of  four  years.  The  abbreviation 
of  this  figure  of  a  field  in  four  divisions,  is  manifestly  the  letter  ha  or  hit,  the 
seventh  in  the  Samaritan  alphabet ;  and  in  general  all  the  letters  of  the  alphabet 
are  merely  astronomical  hieroglyphics ;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  mode  of 
writing  is  from  right  to  left,  like  the  march  of  the  stars.  —  "  They  denote  a  prophet 
by  the  image  of  a  dog,  because  the  dog  star  (Anoubis)  by  its  rising  gives  notice 
of  the  inundation.  Noubi  in  Hebrew  signifies  prophet.  —  They  represent  inunda- 
tion by  a  lion,  because  it  takes  place  under  that  sign:  and  hence,  says  Plutarch, 
the  custom  of  placing  at  the  gates  of  temples  figures  of  lions  with  water  issuing 
from  their  mouths.  —  They  express  the  idea  of  God  and  destiny  by  a  star.  They 
also  represent  God,  says  Porphyry,  by  a  black  stone,  because  his  nature  is  dark 
and  obscure.  All  white  things  express  the  celestial  and  luminous  Gods  :  all  cir- 
cular ones  the  world,  the  moon,  the  sun,  the  orbits ;  all  semicircular  ones,  as  bows 


128  THE   RUINS  OF   EMPIRES. 

could  not  be  fixed  with  precision,  as  the  number  of  these 

and  crescents  are  descriptive  of  the  moon.  Fire  and  the  Gods  of  Olympus  they 
represent  by  pyramids  and  obelisks  (the  name  of  the  sun,  Baal,  is  found  in  this 
latter  word) :  the  sun  by  a  cone  (the  mitre  of  Osiris) :  the  earth,  by  a  cylinder 
(which  revolves) :  the  generative  power  of  the  air  by  the  phalus,  and  that  of  the 
earth  by  a  triangle,  emblem  of  the  female  organ.  Euseb.  Pr&cep.  Evang.  p.  98. 

"  Clay,  says  Jamblicus  de  Symbolis,  sect.  7,  c.  2.  denotes  matter,  the  generative 
and  nutrimental  power,  every  thing  which  receives  the  warmth  and  fermentation 
of  life." 

"  A  man  sitting  upon  the  Lotos  or  Nenuphar,  represents  the  moving  spirit  (the 
sun)  which,  in  like  manner  as  that  plant  lives  in  the  water  without  any  communi- 
cation with  clay,  exists  equally  distinct  from  matter,  swimming  in  empty  space, 
resting  on  itself:  it  is  round  also  in  all  its  parts,  like  the  leaves,  the  flowers,  and 
the  fruit  of  the  Lotos.  (Brama  has  the  eyes  of  the  Lotos,  says  Chasler  Nesdirsen, 
to  denote  his  intelligence  :  his  eye  swims  over  every  thing,  like  the  flower  of  the 
Lotos  on  the  waters.)  A  man  at  the  helm  of  a  ship,  adds  Jamblicus,  is  descriptive 
of  the  sun  which  governs  all.  And  Porphyry  tells  us  that  the  sun  is  also  repre- 
sented by  a  man  in  a  ship  resting  upon  an  amphibious  crocodile  (emblem  of  air 
and  water). 

"  At  Elephantine  they  worshipped  the  figure  of  a  man  in  a  sitting  posture, 
painted  blue,  having  the  head  of  a  ram,  and  the  horns  of  a  goat  which  encom- 
passed a  disk  ;  all  which  represented  the  sun  and  moon's  conjunction  at  the  sign 
of  the  ram  ;  the  blue  color  denoting  the  power  of  the  moon,  at  the  period  of  junc- 
tion, to  raise  water  into  the  clouds.  Euseb.  Pr&cep.  Evang.  p.  nb. 

"  The  hawk  is  an  enblem  of  the  sun  and  of  light,  on  account  of  his  rapid  flight 
and  his  soaring  into  the  highest  regions  of  the  air  where  light  abounds. 

A  fish  is  the  emblem  of  aversion,  and  the  Hippopotamus  of  violence,  because  it 
is  said  to  kill  its  father  and  to  ravish  its  mother.  Hence,  says  Plutarch,  the  em- 
blematical inscription  of  the  temple  of  Sais,  where  we  see  painted  on  the  vestibule, 
i.  A  child,  2.  An  old  man,  3.  A  hawk,  4.  A  fish,  5.  A  hippopotamus ;  which 
signify,  i.  Entrance,  into  life,  2.  Departure,  3.  God,  4.  Hates,  5.  Injustice.  See 
Isis  and  Osiris. 

"The  Egyptians,  adds  he,  represent  the  world  by  a  Scarabeus,  because  this 
insect  pushes,  in  a  direction  contrary  to  that  in  which  it  proceeds,  a  ball  contain- 
ing its  eggs,  just  as  the  heaven  of  the  fixed  stars  causes  the  revolution  of  the  sun, 
(the  yolk  of  an  egg)  in  an  opposite  direction  to  its  own. 

"  They  represent  the  world  also  by  the  number  five,  being  that  of  the  elements, 
which,  says  Diodorus,  are  earth,  water,  air,  fire,  and  ether,  or  spiritus.  The 
Indians  have  the  same  number  of  elements,  and  according  to  Macrobius's  mys- 
tics, they  are  the  supreme  God,  or  primum  mobile,  the  intelligence,  or  metis,  born 
of  him,  the  soul  of  the  world  which  proceeds  from  him,  the  celestial  spheres,  and 
all  things  terrestrial.  Hence,  adds  Plutarch,  the  analogy  between  the  Greek 
pente,  five,  and  pan  all. 

"The  ass,"  says  he  again,  "is  the  emblem  of  Typhon,  because  like  that  animal 
he  is  of  a  reddish  color.  Now  Typhon  signifies  whatever  is  of  a  mirey  or  clayey 
nature ;  (and  in  Hebrew  I  find  the  three  words  clay,  red,  and  ass  to  be  formed 
from  the  same  root  hamr.  Jamblicus  has  farther  told  us  that  clay  was  the  emblem 
of  matter;  and  he  elsewhere  adds,  that  all  evil  and  corruption  proceeded  from 
matter ;  which  compared  with  the  phrase  of  Macrobius,  all  is  perishable,  liable  to 
change  in  the  celestial  sphere,  gives  us  the  theory,  first  physical,  then  moral,  of 
the  system  of  good  and  evil  of  the  ancients." 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  129 

figures  and  their  combinations  became  excessive,  and  over- 
burdened the  memory,  the  immediate  consequence  was  con- 
fusion and  false  interpretations.  Genius  afterwards  having 
invented  the  more  simple  art  of  applying  signs  to  sounds, 
of  which  the  number  is  limited,  and  painting  words,  instead 
of  thoughts,  alphabetical  writing  thus  threw  into  disuetude 
hieroglyphical  painting ;  and  its  signification^alling  daily  into 
oblivion,  gave  rise  to  a  multitude  of  illusions,  ambiguities, 
and  errors. 

"  Finally,  a  third  cause  of  confusion  was  the  civil  organiza- 
tion of  ancient  states.  When  the  people  began  to  apply 
themselves  to  agriculture,  the  formation  of  a  rural  calendar, 
requiring  a  continued  series  of  astronomical  observations,  it 
became  necessary  to  appoint  certain  individuals  charged  with 
the  functions  of  watching  the  appearance  and  disappearance 
of  certain  stars,  to  foretell  the  return  of  the  inundation,  of 
certain  winds,  of  the  rainy  season,  the  proper  time  to  sow 
every  kind  of  grain.  These  men,  on  account  of  their  service, 
were  exempt  from  common  labor,  and  the  society  provided 
for  their  maintenance.  With  this  provision,  and  wholly  em- 
ployed in  their  observations,  they  soon  became  acquainted 
with  the  great  phenomena  of  nature,  and  even  learned  to  pen- 
etrate the  secret  of  many  of  her  operations.  They  discovered 
the  movement  of  the  stars  and  planets,  the  coincidence  of 
their  phases  and  returns  with  the  productions  of  the  earth  and 
the  action  of  vegetation  ;  the  medicinal  and  nutritive  proper- 
ties of  plants  and  fruits  ;  the  action  of  the  elements,  and  their 
reciprocal  affinities.  Now,  as  there  was  no  other  method  of 
communicating  the  knowledge  of  these  discoveries  but  the 
laborious  one  of  oral  instruction,  they  transmitted  it  only  to 
their  relations  and  friends,  it  followed  therefore  that  all  science 
and  instruction  were  confined  to  a  few  families,  who,  arro- 
gating it  to  themselves  as  an  exclusive  privilege,  assumed  a 
professional  distinction,  a  corporation  spirit,  fatal  to  the  public 
welfare.  This  continued  succession  of  the  same  researches 
and  the  same  labors,  hastened,  it  is  true,  the  progress  of 
knowledge  ;  but  by  the  mystery  which  accompanied  it,  the 
people  were  daily  plunged  in  deeper  shades,  and  became 
more  superstitious  and  more  enslaved.  Seeing  their  fellow 
mortals  produce  certain  phenomena,  announce,  as  at  pleasure, 


130  THE  RUINS  OF    EMPIRES. 

eclipses  and  comets,  heal  diseases,  and  handle  venomous 
serpents,  they  thought  them  in  alliance  with  celestial  powers ; 
and,  to  obtain  the  blessings  and  avert  the  evils  which  they 
expected  from  above,  they  took  them  for  mediators  and  in- 
terpreters ;  and  thus  became  established  in  the  bosom  of  every 
state  sacrilegious  corporations  of  hypocritical  and  deceitful 
men,  who  centered  all  powers  in  themselves  ;  and  the  priests, 
being  at  once  astronomers,  theologians,  naturalists,  physicians, 
magicians,  interpreters  of  the  gods,  oracles  of  men,  and  rivals 
of  kings,  or  their  accomplices,  established,  under  the  name 
of  religion,  an  empire  of  mystery  and  a  monopoly  of  instruc- 
tion, which  to  this  day  have  ruined  every  nation.  .  .  ." 

Here  the  priests  of  all  the  groups  interrupted  the  orator, 
and  with  loud  cries  accused  him  of  impiety,  irreligion,  blas- 
phemy ;  and  endeavored  to  cut  short  his  discourse  ;  but  the 
legislator  observing  that  this  was  only  an  exposition  of  his- 
torical facts,  which,  if  false  or  forged,  would  be  easily  refuted  ; 
that  hitherto  the  declaration  of  every  opinion  had  been  free, 
and  without  this  it  would  be  impossible  to  discover  the  truth, 
the  orator  proceeded : 

"  Now,  from  all  these  causes,  and  from  the  continual  asso- 
ciations of  ill-assorted  ideas,  arose  a  mass  of  disorders  in 
theology,  in  morals,  and  in  traditions  ;  first,  because  the  ani- 
mals represented  the  stars,  the  characters  of  the  animals,  their 
appetites,  their  sympathies,  their  aversions,  passed  over  to 
the  gods,  and  were  supposed  to  be  their  actions ;  thus,  the 
god  Ichneumon  made  war  against  the  god  Crocodile ;  the 
god  Wolf  liked  to  eat  the  god  Sheep  ;  the  god  Ibis  devoured 
the  god  Serpent ;  and  the  deity  became  a  strange,  capricious, 
and  ferocious  being,  whose  idea  deranged  the  judgment  of 
man,  and  corrupted  his  morals  and  his  reason. 

"  Again,  because  in  the  spirit  of  their  worship  every  family, 
every  nation,  took  for  its  special  patron  a  star  or  a  constella- 
tion, the  affections  or  antipathies  of  the  symbolic  animal  were 
transferred  to  its  sectaries  ;  and  the  partisans  of  the  god  Dog 
were  enemies  to  those  of  the  god  Wolf;*  those  who  adored 

*  These  are  properly  the  words  of  Plutarch,  who  relates  that  those  various  wor- 
ships were  given  by  a  king  of  Egypt  to  the  different  towns  to  disunite  and  enslave 
them,  and  these  kings  had  been  taken  from  the  cast  of  priests.  See  Isis  and 
Osiris. 


THE  RUINS  OF   EMPIRES.  131 

the  god  Ox  had  an  abhorrence  to  those  who  ate  him  ;  and 
religion  became  the  source  of  hatred  and  hostility, —  the 
senseless  cause  of  frenzy  and  superstition. 

"  Besides,  the  names  of  those  animal-stars  having,  for  this 
same  reason  of  patronage,  been  conferred  on  countries,  na- 
tions, mountains,  and  rivers,  these  objects  were  taken  for 
gods,  and  hence  followed  a  mixture  of  geographical,  historical, 
and  mythological  beings,  which  confounded  all  traditions. 

"  Finally,  by  the  analogy  of  actions  which  were  ascribed  to 
them,  the  god-stars,  having  been  taken  for  men,  for  heroes, 
for  kings,  kings  and  heroes  took  in  their  turn  the  actions  of 
gods  for  models,  and  by  imitation  became  warriors,  con- 
querors, proud,  lascivious,  indolent,  sanguinary  ;  and  religion 
consecrated  the  crimes  of  despots,  and  perverted  the  princi- 
ples of  government. 

IV.   Fourth  system.     Worship  of  two  Principles,  or  Dualism. 

"  In  the  mean  time,  the  astronomical  priests,  enjoying  peace 
and  abundance  in  their  temples,  made  every  day  new  progress 
in  the  sciences,  and  the  system  of  the  world  unfolding  gradu- 
ally to  their  view,  they  raised  successively  various  hypotheses 
as  to  its  agents  and  effects,  which  became  so  many  theological 
systems. 

"  The  voyages  of  the  maritime  nations  and  the  caravans  of 
the  nomads  of  Asia  and  Africa,  having  given  them  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  earth  from  the  Fortunate  Islands  to  Serica,  and 
from  the  Baltic  to  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  the  comparison  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  various  zones  taught  them  the  rotun- 
dity of  the  earth,  and  gave  birth  to  a  new  theory.  Having 
remarked  that  all  the  operations  of  nature  during  the  annual 
period  were  reducible  to  two  principal  ones,  that  of  pro- 
ducing and  that  of  destroying  ;  that  on  the  greater  part  of  the 
globe  these  two  operations  were  performed  in  the  intervals  of 
the  two  equinoxes ;  that  is  to  say,  during  the  six  months  of 
summer  every  thing  was  procreating  and  multiplying,  and 
that  during  winter  everything  languished  and  almost  died ; 
they  supposed  in  Nature  two  contrary  powers,  which  were  in 
a  continual  state  of  contention  and  exertion  ;  and  considering 
the  celestial  sphere  in  this  view,  they  divided  the  images 


132  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

which  they  figured  upon  it  into  two  halves  or  hemispheres  ; 
so  that  the  constellations  which  were  on  the  summer  heaven 
formed  a  direct  and  superior  empire ;  and  those  which  were 
on  the  winter  heaven  composed  an  antipode  and  inferior  em- 
pire. Therefore,  as  the  constellations  of  summer  accompanied 
the  season  of  long,  warm,  and  unclouded  days,  and  that  of 
fruits  and  harvests,  they  were  considered  as  the  powers  of 
light,  fecundity,  and  creation ;  and,  by  a  transition  from  a 
physical  to  a  moral  sense,  they  became  genii,  angels  of  science, 
of  beneficence,  of  purity  and  virtue.  And  as  the  constellations 
of  winter  were  connected  with  long  nights  and  polar  fogs, 
they  were  the  genii  o^  darkness,  of  destruction,  of  death ;  and 
by  transition,  angels  of  ignorance,  of  wickedness,  of  sin  and 
vice.  By  this  arrangement  the  heaven  was  divided  into  two 
domains,  two  factions  ;  and  the  analogy  of  human  ideas 
already  opened  a  vast  field  to  the  errors  of  imagination  ;  but 
the  mistake  and  the  illusion  were  determined,  if  not  occasioned 
by  a  particular  circumstance.  (Observe  plate  Astrological 
Heaven  of  the  Ancients?) 

"  In  the  projection  of  the  celestial  sphere,  as  traced  by  the 
astronomical  priests,*  the  zodiac  and  the  constellations,  dis- 

*  The  ancient  priests  had  three  kinds  of  spheres,  which  it  may  be  useful  to  make 
known  to  the  reader. 

"We  read  in  Eusebius,"  says  Porphyry,  "that  Zoroaster  was  the  first  who, 
having  fixed  upon  a  cavern  pleasantly  situated  in  the  mountains  adjacent  to 
Persia,  formed  the  idea  of  consecrating  it  to  Mithra  (the  sun)  creator  and  father 
of  all  things :  that  is  to  say,  having  made  in  this  cavern  sereral  geometrical  divis- 
ions, representing  the  seasons  and  the  elements,  he  imitated  on  a  small  scale  the 
order  and  disposition  of  the  universe  by  Mithra.  After  Zoroaster,  it  became  a 
custom  to  consecrate  caverns  for  the  celebration  of  mysteries :  so  that  in  like 
manner  as  temples  were  dedicated  to  the  Gods,  rural  altars  to  heroes  and  terres- 
trial deities,  etc.,  subterranean  abodes  to  infernal  deities,  so  caverns  and  grottoes 
were  consecrated  to  the  world,  to  the  universe,  and  to  the  nymphs :  and  from 
hence  Pythagoras  and  Plato  borrowed  the  idea  of  calling  the  earth  a  cavern,  a 
cave,  de  Antro  Nympharum. 

Such  was  the  first  projection  of  the  sphere  in  relief;  though  the  Persians  give 
the  honor  of  the  invention  to  Zoroaster,  it  is  doubtless  due  to  the  Egyptians;  for 
we  may  suppose  from  this  projection  being  the  most  simple  that  it  was  the  most 
ancient ;  the  caverns  of  Thebes,  full  of  similar  pictures,  tend  to  strengthen  this 
opinion. 

The  following  wasithe  second  projection  :  "  The  prophets  or  hierophants,"  says 
Bishop  Synnesius,  "who  had  been  initiated  in  the  mysteries,  do  not  permit  the 
common  workmen  to  form  idols  or  images  of  the  Gods ;  but  they  descend  them- 
selves into  the  sacred  caves,  where  they  have  concealed  coffers  containing  certain 
spheres  upon  which  they  construct  those  images  secretly  and  without  the 


THE  RUINS  OF   EMPIRES.  133 

posed  in  circular  order,  presented  their  halves  in  diametrical 
opposition  ;  the  hemisphere  of  winter,  antipode  of  that  of 
summer,  was  adverse,  contrary,  opposed  to  it.  By  a  continual 
metaphor,  these  words  acquired  a  moral  sense  ;  and  the  ad- 
verse genii,  or  angels,  became  revolted  enemies.*  From  that 
moment  all  the  astronomical  history  of  the  constellations  was 
changed  into  a  political  history  ;  the  heavens  became  a  human 
state,  where  things  happened  as  on  the  earth.  Now,  as  the 
earthly  states,  the  greater  part  despotic,  had  already  their 
monarchs,  and  as  the  sun  was  apparently  the  monarch  of  the 
skies,  the  summer  hemisphere  (empire  of  light)  and  its  con- 
stellations (a  nation  of  white  angels)  had  for  king  an  enlight- 
ened God,  a  creator  intelligent  and  good.  And  as  every  rebel 
faction  must  have  its  chief,  the  heaven  of  winter,  the  subter- 
ranean empire  of- darkness  and  woe,  and  its  stars,  a  nation  of 
black  angels,  giants  and  demons,  had  for  their  chief  a  malig- 
nant genius,  whose  character  was  applied  by  different  people 
to  the  constellation  which  to  them  was  the  most  remarkable. 
In  Egypt  it  was  at  first  the  Scorpion,  first  zodiacal  sign  after 
Libra,  and  for  a  long  time  chief  of  the  winter  signs  ;  then  it 
was  the  Bear,  or  the  polar  Ass,  called  Typhon,  that  is  to  say, 

knowledge  of  the  people,  who  despise  simple  and  natural  things  and  wish  for 
prodigies  and  fables."  (Syn.  in  Calvit.)  That  is,  the  ancient  priests  had  armil- 
lary  spheres  like  ours  ;  and  this  passage,  which  so  well  agrees  with  that  of  Chse- 
remon,  gives  us  the  key  to  all  their  theological  astrology. 

"Lastly,  they  had  flat  models  of  the  nature  of  Plate  V,  with  the  difference  that 
they  were  of  a  very  complicated  nature,  having  every  fictitious  division  of  decan 
and  subdecan,  with  the  hieroglyphic  signs  of  their  influence.  Kircher  has  given 
us  a  copy  of  one  of  them  in  his  Egyptian  CEdipus,  and  Gybelin  a  figured  fragment 
in  his  book  of  the  calendar  (under  the  name  of  the  Egyptian  Zodiac).  The  ancient 
Egyptians,  says  the  astrologer  Julius  Firmicus,  (Astron.  lib.  ii.  and  lib.  iv.,  c.  16), 
divide  each  sign  of  the  Zodiac  into  three  sections  ;  and  each  section  was  under 
the  direction  of  an  imaginary  being  whom  they  called  decan  or  chief  of  ten  ;  so 
that  there  were  three  decans  a  month,  and  thirty-six  a  year.  Now  these  decans; 
who  were  also  called  Gods  (Tkeof),  regulated  the  destinies  of  mankind  — and  they 
were  placed  particularly  in  certain  stars.  They  afterwards  imagined  in  every  ten 
three  other  Gods,  whom  they  called  arbiters ;  so  that  there  were  nine  for  every 
month,  and  these  were  farther  divided  into  an  infinite  number  of  powers.  The 
Persians  and  Indians  made  their  spheres  on  similar  plans ;  and  if  a  picture  there- 
of were  to  be  drawn  from  the  description  given  by  Scaliger  at  the  end  of  Manilius, 
we  should  find  in  it  a  complete  explanation  of  their  hieroglyphics,  for  every  article 
forms  one. 

*  If  it  was  for  this  reason  the  Persians  always  wrote  the  name  of  Ahrimanes  in- 
verted thus :  •sauvwij.yy 


134  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

deluge,*  on  account  of  the  rains  which  deluge  the  earth 
during  the  dominion  of  that  star.  At  a  later  period,!  in  Persia, 
it  was  the  Serpent,  who,  under  the  name  of  Ahrimanes,  formed 
the  basis  of  the  system  of  Zoroaster  ;  and  it  is  the  same,  O 
Christians  and  Jews !  that  has  become  your  serpent  of  Eve 
(the  celestial  virgin,)  and  that  of  the  cross  ;  in  both  cases  it  is 
the  emblem  of  Satan,  the  enemy  and  great  adversary  of  the 
Ancient  of  Days,  sung  by  Daniel. 

"  In  Syria,  it  was  the  hog  or  wild  boar,  enemy  of  Adonis  \ 
because  in  that  country  the  functions  of  the  Northen  Bear 
were  performed  by  the  animal  whose  inclination  for  mire  and 
dirt  was  emblematic  of  winter.  And  this  is  the  reason,  follow- 
ers of  Moses  and  Mahomet !  that  you  hold  him  in  horror,  in 
imitation  of  the  priests  of  Memphis  and  Balbec,  who  detested 
him  as  the  murderer  of  their  God,  the  sun.  This  likewise,  O 
Indians  !  is  the  type  of  yourChib-en;  and  it  has  been  likewise 
the  Pluto  of  your  brethren,  the  Romans  and  Greeks  ;  in  like 
manner,  your  Brama,  God  the  creator,  is  only  the  Persian 
Ormuzd,  and  the  Egyptian  Osiris,  whose  very  name  expresses 
creative  power,  producer  of  forms.  And  these  gods  received 
a  worship  analogous  to  their  attributes,  real  or  imaginary  ; 
which  worship  was  divided  into  two  branches,  according  to 
their  characters.  The  good  god  receives  a  worship  of  love 
and  joy,  from  which  are  derived  all  religious  acts  of  gaiety, 
such  as  festivals,  dances,  banquets,  offerings  of  flowers,  milk, 
honey,  perfumes  ;  in  a  word,  everything  grateful  to  the  senses 

*Typhon,  pronounced  Touphon  by  the  Greeks,  is  precisely  the  touphan  of  the 
Arabs,  which  signifies  deluge  ;  and  these  deluges  in  mythology  are  nothing  more 
than  winter  and  the  rains,  or  the  overflowing  of  the  Nile:  as  their  pretended  fires 
which  are  to  destroy  the  world,  are  simply  the  summer  season.  And  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  Aristotle  (De  Meteor,  lib.  I.  c.  xiv),  says,  that  the  winter  of  the  great 
cyclic  year  is  a  deluge ;  and  its  summer  a  conflagration.  "  The  Egyptians,"  says 
Porphyry,  "  employ  every  year  a  talisman  in  remembrance  of  the  world  :  at  the 
summer  solstice  they  mark  their  houses,  flocks  and  trees  with  red,  supposing  that 
on  that  day  the  whole  world  had  been  set  on  fire.  It  was  also  at  the  same  period 
that  they  celebrated  the  pyrric  or  fire  dance."  And  this  illustrates  the  origin  of 
purification  by  fire  and  by  water;  for  having  denominated  the  tropic  of  Cancer 
the  gate  of  heaven,  and  the  genial  heat  of  celestial  fire,  and  that  of  Capricorn  the 
gateofdelugeorofwater.it  was  imagined  that  the  spirit  or  souls  who  passed 
through  these  gates  in  their  way  to  and  from  heaven,  were  roasted  or  bathed: 
hence  the  baptism  of  Mithra ;  and  the  passage  through  flames,  observed  through- 
out the  East  long  before  Moses. 

t  That  is  when  the  ram  became  the  equinoctial  sign,  or  rather  when  the  altera- 
tion of  the  skies  showed  that  it  was  no  longer  the  bull. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  135 

and  to  the  soul.*  The  evil  god,  on  the  contrary,  received  a 
worship  of  fear  and  pain  ;  whence  originated  all  religious  acts 
of  the  gloomy  sort,f  tears,  desolations,  mournings,  self-denials, 
bloody  offerings,  and  cruel  sacrifices. 

"  Hence  arose  that  distinction  of  terrestrial  beings  into  pure 
and  impure,  sacred  and  abominable,  according  as  their  species 
were  of  the  number  of  the  constellations  of  one  of  these  two 
gods,  and  made  part  of  his  domain ;  and  this  produced,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  superstitions  concerning  pollutions  and 
purifications;  and,  on  the  other,  the  pretended  efficacious 
virtues  of  amulets  and  talismans. 

"  You  conceive  now,"  continued  the  orator,  addressing  him- 
self to  the  Persians,  the  Indians,  the  Jews,  the  Christians,  the 
Mussulmans,  "  you  conceive  the  origin  of  those  ideas  of 
battles  and  rebellions,  which  equally  abound  in  all  your 
mythologies.  You  see  what  is  meant  by  white  and  black 
angels,  your  cherubim  and  seraphim,  with  heads  of  eagles,  of 
lions,  or  of  bulls ;  your  deus,  devils,  demons,  with  horns  of  goats 
and  tails  of  serpents  ;  your  thrones  and  dominions,  ranged  in 
seven  orders  or  gradations,  like  the  seven  spheres  of  the 
planets  ;  all  beings  acting  the  same  parts,  and  endowed  with 
the  same  attributes  in  your  Vedas,  Bibles,  and  Zend-avestas, 
whether  they  have  for  chiefs  Ormuzd  or  Brama,  Typhon  or 
Chive«,  Michael  or  Satan  ; — whether  they  appear  under  the 
form  of  giants  with  a  hundred  arms  and  feet  of  serpents,  or 
that  of  gods  metamorphosed  into  lions,  storks,  bulls  or  cats,  as 
they  are  in  the  sacred  fables  of  the  Greeks  and  Egyptians. 

*  All  the  ancient  festivals  respecting  the  return  and  exaltation  of  the  sun  were 
of  this  description  :  hence  the  hilaria  of  the  Roman  calendar  at  the  period  of  the 
passage,  Pascha,  of  the  vernal  equinox.  The  dances  were  imitations  of  the  march 
of  the  planets.  Those  of  the  Dervises  still  represent  it  to  this  day. 

t  "Sacrifices  of  blood,"  says  Porphyry,  "  were  only  offered  to  Demons  and  evil 
Genii  to  avert  their  wrath.  Demons  arefond  of  blood,  humidity,  stench."  Apud. 
Euseb.  Prcep.  Ev.,p.  ijj. 

"  The  Egyptians,"  says  Plutarch,  "only  offer  bloody  victims  to  Typhon.  They 
sacrifice  to  him  a  red  ox,  and  the  animal  immolated  is  held  in  execration  and 
loaded  with  all  the  sins  of  the  people."  The  goat  of  Moses.  See  Isis  and  Osiris. 

Strabo  says,  speaking  of  Moses,  and  the  Jews,  "Circumcision  and  the  prohibi- 
tion of  certain  kinds  of  meat  sprung  from  superstition."  And  I  observe,  respect- 
ing the  ceremony  of  circumcision,  that  its  object  Was  to  take  from  the  symbol  of 
Osiris,  (Phallus)  the  pretended  obstacle  to  fecundity  ;  an  obstacle  which  bore  the 
seal  of  Typhon,  "whose  nature,"  says  Plutarch,  "is  made  up  of  all  that  hinders, 
opposes,  causes  obstruction." 


136  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

You  perceive  the  successive  filiation  of  these  ideas,  and  how, 
in  proportion  to  their  remoteness  from  their  source,  and  as 
the  minds  of  men  became  refined,  their  gross  forms  have  been 
polished,  and  rendered  less  disgusting. 

"  But  in  the  same  manner  as  you  have  seen  the  system  of  two 
opposite  principles  or  gods  arise  from  that  of  symbols,  inter- 
woven into  its  texture,  your  attention  shall  now  be  called  to  a 
new  system  which  has  grown  out  of  this,  and  to  which  this 
has  served  in  its  turn  as  the  basis  and  support. 

V.   Moral  and  Mystical  Worship,  or  System  of  a  Future  State. 

"  Indeed,  when  the  vulgar  heard  speak  of  a  new  heaven  and 
another  world,  they  soon  gave  a  body  to  these  fictions  ;  they 
erected  therein  a  real  theatre  of  action,  and  their  notions  of 
astronomy  and  geography  served  to  strengthen,  if  not  to 
originate,  this  illusion. 

"  On  the  one  hand,  the  Phoenician  navigators  who  passed 
the  pillars  of  Hercules,  to  fetch  the  tin  of  Thule  and  the  am- 
ber of  the  Baltic,  related  that  at  the  extremity  of  the  world, 
the  end  of  the  ocean  (the  Mediterranean),  where  the  sun  sets 
for  the  countries  of  Asia,  were  the  Fortunate  Islands,  the 
abode  of  eternal  spring ;  and  beyond  were  the  hyperborean 
regions,  placed  under  the  earth  (relatively  to  the  tropics) 
where  reigned  an  eternal  night.*  From  these  stories,  misun- 
derstood, and  no  doubt  confusedly  related,  the  imagination  of 
the  people  composed  the  Elysian  fields ,f  regions  of  delight, 
placed  in  a  world  below,  having  their  heaven,  their  sun,  and 
their  stars  ;  and  Tartarus,  a  place  of  darkness,  humidity,  mire, 
and  frost.  Now,  as  man,  inquisitive  of  that  which  he  knows 
not,  and  desirous  of  protracting  his  existence,  had  already 
interrogated  himself  concerning  what  was  to  become  of  him 
after  his  death,  as  he  had  early  reasoned  on  the  principle  of 
life  which  animates  his  body,  and  which  leaves  it  without  de- 
forming it,  and  as  he  had  imagined  airy  substances,  phantoms, 
and  shades,  he  fondly  believed  that  he  should  continue,  in  the 
subterranean  world,  that  life  which  it  was  too  painful  for  him 
to  lose ;  and  these  lower  regions  seemed  commodious  for  the 

*  Nights  of  six  months  duration. 

t  Aliz,  in  the  Phoenician  or  Hebrew  language  signifies  dancing  and  joyous. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  137 

reception  of  the  beloved  objects  which  he  could  not  willingly 
resign. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  astrological  and  geological  priests 
told  such  stories  and  made  such  descriptions  of  their  heavens, 
as  accorded  perfectly  well  with  these  fictions.  Having,  in 
their  metaphorical  language,  called  the  equinoxes  and  solstices 
the  gates  of  heaven,  the  entrance  of  the  seasons,  they  explain- 
ed these  terrestrial  phenomena  by  saying,  that  through  the 
gate  of  horn  (first  the  bull,  afterwards  the  ram)  and  through 
the  gate  of  Cancer,  descended  the  vivifying  fires  which  give 
life  to  vegetation  in  the  spring,  and  the  aqueous  spirits  which 
bring,  at  the  solstice,  the  inundation  of  the  Nile ;  that  through 
the  gate  of  ivory  (Libra,  formerly  Sagittarius,  or  the  bowman) 
and  that  of  Capricorn,  or  the  urn,  the  emanations  or  influences 
of  the  heavens  returned  to  their  source,  and  reascended  to 
their  origin  ;  and  the  Milky  Way,  which  passed  through  the 
gates  of  the  solstices,  seemed  to  be  placed  there  lo  serve  them 
as  a  road  or  vehicle.*  Besides,  in  their  atlas,  the  celestial 
scene  presented  a  river  (the  Nile,  designated  by  the  windings 
of  the  hydra),  a  boat,  (the  ship  Argo)and  the  dog  Sirius.both 
relative  to  this  river,  whose  inundation  they  foretold.  These 
circumstances,  added  to  the  preceding,  and  still  further  ex- 
plaining them,  increased  their  probability,  and  to  arrive  at 
Tartarus  or  Elysium,  souls  were  obliged  to  cross  the  rivers 
Styx  and  Acheron  in  the  boat  of  the  ferryman  Charon,  and 
to  pass  through  the  gates  of  horn  or  ivory,  guarded  by  the 
dog  Cerberus.  Finally,  these  inventions  were  applied  to  a 
civil  use,  and  thence  received  a  further  consistency. 

"  Having  remarked  that  in  their  burning  climate  the  putre- 
faction of  dead  bodies  was  a  cause  of  pestilential  diseases,  the 
Egyptians,  in  many  of  their  towns,  had  adopted  the  practice 
of  burying  their  dead  beyond  the  limits  of  the  inhabited  coun- 
try, in  the  desert  of  the  West.  To  go  there,  it  was  necessary 
to  pass  the  channels  of  the  river,  and  consequently  to  be  re- 
ceived into  a  boat,  and  pay  something  to  the  ferryman,  without 
which  the  body,  deprived  of  sepulture,  must  have  been  the 
prey  of  wild  beasts.  This  custom  suggested  to  the  civil  and 
religious  legislators  the  means  of  a  powerful  influence  on 
manners  ;  and,  addressing  uncultivated  and  ferocious  men 

*See  Macrob.  Som.  Scrip,  c.  12. 


138  THE   RUINS  OF    EMPIRES. 

with  the  motives  of  filial  piety  and  a  reverence  for  the  dead, 
they  established,  as  a  necessary  condition,  their  undergoing 
a  previous  trial,  which  should  decide  whether  the  deceased 
merited  to  be  admitted  to  the  rank  of  the  family  in  the  black 
city.  Such  an  idea  accorded  too  well  with  all  the  others,  not 
to  be  incorporated  with  them :  the  people  soon  adopted  it ; 
and  hell  had  its  Minos  and  its  Rhadamanthus,  with  the  wand, 
the  bench,  the  ushers,  and  the  urn,  as  in  the  earthly  and  civil 
state.  It  was  then  that  God  became  a  moral  and  political 
being,  a  lawgiver  to  men,  and  so  much  the  more  to  be  dreaded, 
as  this  supreme  legislator,  this  final  judge,  was  inaccessible 
and  invisible.  Then  it  was  that  this  fabulous  and  mythologi- 
cal world,  composed  of  such  odd  materials  and  disjointed 
parts,  became  a  place  of  punishments  and  of  rewards,  where 
divine  justice  was  supposed  to  correct  what  was  vicious  and 
erroneous  in  the  judgment  of  men.  This  spiritual  and  mystical 
system  acquired  the  more  credit,  as  it  took  possession  of  man 
by  all  his  natural  inclinations.  The  oppressed  found  in  it  the 
hope  of  indemnity,  and  the  consolation  of  future  vengeance ; 
the  oppressor,  expecting  by  rich  offerings  to  purchase  his 
impunity,  formed  out  of  the  errors  of  the  vulgar  an  additional 
weapon  of  oppression ;  the  chiefs  of  nations,  the  kings  and 
priests,  found  in  this  a  new  instrument  of  domination  by  the 
privilege  which  they  reserved  to  themselves  of  distributing 
the  favors  and  punishments  of  the  great  judge,  according  to 
the  merit  or  demerit  of  actions,  which  they  took  care  to  char- 
acterize as  best  suited  their  system. 

"  This,  then,  is  the  manner  in  which  an  invisible  and  im- 
aginary world  has  been  introduced  into  the  real  and  visible 
one  ;  this  is  the  origin  of  those  regions  of  pleasure  and  pain,  of 
which  you  Persians  have  made  your  regenerated  earth,  your 
city  of  resurrection,  placed  under  the  equator,  with  this  singu- 
lar attribute,  that  in  it  the  blessed  cast  no  shade.*  Of  these 

*  There  is  on  this  subjedl  a  passage  in  Plutarch,  so  interesting  and  explanatory 
of  the  whole  of  this  system,  that  we  shall  cite  it  entire.  Having  observed  that 
the  theory  of  good  and  evil  had  at  all  times  occupied  the  attention  of  philosophers 
and  theologians,  he  adds :  "  Many  suppose  there  to  be  two  gods  of  opposite  in- 
clinations, one  delighting  in  good,  the  other  in  evil ;  the  first  of  these  is  called 
particularly  by  the  name  of  God,  the  second  by  that  of  Genius  or  Demon.  Zoro- 
aster has  denominated  them  Oromaze  and  Ahrimanes,  and  has  said  that  of  what- 
ever falls  under  the  cognizance  of  our  senses,  light  is  the  best  representation  of 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  139 

materials,  Jews  and  Christians,  disciples  of  the  Persians,  have 
you  formed  your  New  Jerusalem  of  the  Apocalypse,  your  par- 
adise, your  heaven,  copied  in  all  its  parts  from  the  astrological 
heaven  of  Hermes  :  and  your  hell,  ye  Mussulmans,  your  bot- 
tomless pit,  surmounted  by  a  bridge,  your  balance  for  weighing 
souls  and  good  works,  your  last  judgment  by  the  angels 
Monkir  and  Nekir,  are  likewise  modeled  from  the  mysterious 
ceremonies  of  the  cave  of  Mithras  ;  *  and  your  heaven  differs 
not  in  the  least  from  that  of  Osiris,  of  Ormuzd,  and  of  Brama. 

the  one,  and  darkness  and  ignorance  of  the  other.  He  adds,  that  Mithra  is  an 
intermediate  being,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  the  Persians  call  Mithra  the  mediator 
or  intermediator.  Each  of  these  Gods  has  distinct  plants  and  animals  consecrated 
to  him :  for  example,  dogs,  birds  and  hedge-hogs  belong  to  the  good  Genius,  and 
all  aquatic  animals  to  the  evil  one. 

"The  Persians  also  say,  that  Oromaze  was  born  or  formed  out  of  the  purest 
light ;  Ahrimanes,  on  the  contrary,  out  of  the  thickest  darkness :  that  Oromaze 
mafle  six  gods  as  good  as  himself,  and  Ahrimanes  opposed  to  them  six  wicked 
ones :  that  Oromaze  afterwards  multiplied  himself  threefold  (Hermes  trismegistus) 
and  removed  to  a  distance  as  remote  from  the  sun  as  the  sun  is  remote  from  the 
earth  ;  that  he  there  formed  stars,  and,  among  others,  Sirius,  which  he  placed  in 
the  heavens  as  a  guard  and  sentinel.  He  made  also  twenty-four  other  Gods, 
which  he  inclosed  in  an  egg ;  but  Ahrimanes  created  an  equal  number  on  his 
part,  who  broke  the  egg,  and  from  that  moment  good  and  evil  were  mixed  (in  the 
universe).  But  Ahrimanes  is  one  day  to  be  conquered,  and  the  earth  to  be  made 
equal  and  smooth,  that  all  men  may  live  happy. 

"  Theopompus  adds,  from  the  books  of  the  Magi,  that  one  of  these  Gods  reigns 
in  turn  every  three  thousand  years,  during  which  the  other  is  kept  in  subjection  ; 
that  they  afterwards  contend  with  equal  weapons  during  a  similar  portion  of  time, 
but  that  in  the  end  the  evil  Genius  will  fall  (never  to  rise  again).  Then  men  will 
become  happy,  and  their  bodies  cast  no  shade.  The  God  who  mediates  all  these 
things  reclines  at  present  in  repose,  waiting  till  he  shall  be  pleased  to  execute 
them."  See  Isis  and  Osiris. 

There  is  an  apparent  allegory  through  the  whole  of  this  passage.  The  egg  is 
the  fixed  sphere,  the  world  :  the  six  Gods  of  Oromaze  are  the  six  signs  of  summer, 
those  of  Ahrimanes  the  six  signs  of  winter.  The  forty-eight  other  Gods  are  the 
forty-eight  constellations  of  the  ancient  sphere,  divided  equally  between  Ahri- 
manes and  Oromaze.  The  office  of  Sirius,  as  guard  and  sentinel,  tells  us  that  the 
origin  of  these  ideas  was  Egyptian  :  finally,  the  expression  that  the  earth  is  to  be- 
come equal  and  smooth,  and  that  the  bodies  of  happy  beings  are  to  cast  no  shade, 
proves  that  the  equator  was  considered  as  their  true  paradise. 

*  In  the  caves  which  priests  every  where  constructed,  they  celebrated  mysteries 
which  consisted  (says  Origen  against  Celsus)  in  imitating  the  motion  of  the  stars, 
the  planets  and  the  heavens.  The  initiated  took  the  name  of  constellations,  and 
assumed  the  figures  of  animals.  One  was  a  lion,  another  a  raven,  and  a  third  a 
ram.  Hence  the  use  of  masks  in  the  first  representation  of  the  drama.  See  Ant. 
Devoili,  vol.  iii.,  p.  244.  "  In  the  mysteries  of  Ceres  the  chief  in  the  procession 
called  himself  the  creator ;  the  bearer  of  the  torch  was  denominated  the  sun  ;  the 
person  nearest  to  the  altar,  the  moon ;  the  herald  or  deacon,  Mercury.  In  Egypt 


140  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

VI.    Sixth  System.     The  Animated  World,  or   Worship  of  the 
Universe  under  diverse  Emblems. 

"  While  the  nations  were  wandering  in  the  dark  labyrinth 
of  mythology  and  fables,  the  physical  priests,  pursuing  their 
studies  and  enquiries  into  the  order  and  disposition  of  the 
universe,  came  to  new  conclusions,  and  formed  new  systems 
concerning  powers  and  first  causes. 

"  Long  confined  to  simple  appearances,  they  saw  nothing 
in  the  movement  of  the  stars  but  an  unknown  play  of  luminous 
bodies  rolling  round  the  earth,  which  they  believed  the  central 
point  of  all  the  spheres  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  discovered  the 
rotundity  of  our  planet,  the  consequences  of  this  first  fact  led 
them  to  new  considerations  ;  and  from  induction  to  induction 
they  rose  to  the  highest  conceptions  in  astronomy  and  physics. 
"  Indeed,  after  having  conceived  this  luminous  idea,  that  the 
terrestrial  globe  is  a  little  circle  inscribed  in  the  greater  circle 
of  the  heavens,  the  theory  of  concentric  circles  came  naturally 
into  their  hypothesis,  to  determine  the  unknown  circle  of  the 
terrestrial  globe  by  certain  known  portions  of  the  celestial 
circle  ;  and  the  measurement  of  one  or  more  degrees  of  the 
meridian    gave    with    precision    the   whole    circumference. 
Then,  taking  for  a  compass  the  known  diameter  of  the  earth. 
I    some  fortunate  genius  applied  it  with  a  bold  hand  to  the 
boundless  orbits  of  the  heavens  ;  and  man,  the  inhabitant  of 
.    a  grain  of  sand,  embracing  the  infinite  distances  of  the  stars, 
.     launches  into  the  immensity  of  space  and  the  eternity  of  time : 
I     there  he  is  presented  with  a  new  order  of  the  universe  of 
which  the  atom-globe  which  he  inhabited  appeared  no  longer 
I    to  be  the  centre;  this  important  post  was  reserved  to  the 
enormous  mass  of  the  sun  ;  and  that  body  became  the  flaming 
pivot  of  eight  surrounding  spheres,  whose  movements  were 
/.  henceforth  subjected  to  precise  calculations. 

there  was  a  festival  in  which  the  men  and  women  represented  the  year,  the  age, 
the  seasons,  the  different  parts  of  the  day,  and  they  walked  in  precession  after 
Bacchus.  Athen.  lib.  v.,  ch.  7.  In  the  cave  of  Mithra  was  a  ladder  with  seven 
steps,  representing  the  seven  spheres  of  the  planets,  by  means  of  which  souls  as- 
cended and  descended.  This  is  precisely  the  ladder  in  Jacob's  vision,  which 
shows  that  at  that  epocha  the  whole  system  was  formed.  There  is  in  the  French 
king's  library  a  superb  volume  of  pictures  ofthe  Indian  Gods,  in  which  the  ladder 
is  represented  with  the  souls  of  men  mounting  it." 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  141 

"  It  was  indeed  a  great  effort  for  the  human  mind  to  have 
undertaken  to  determine  the  disposition  and  order  of  the  great 
engines  of  nature ;  but  not  content  with  this  first  effort,  it  still 
endeavored  to  develop  the  mechanism,  and  discover  the  origin 
and  the  instinctive  principle.  Hence,  engaged  in  the  abstract 
and  metaphysical  nature  of  motion  and  its  first  cause,  of  the 
inherent  or  incidental  properties  of  matter,  its  successive 
forms  and  its  extension,  that  is  to  say,  of  time  and  space 
unbounded,  the  physical  theologians  lost  themselves  in  a 
chaos  of  subtile  reasoning  and  scholastic  controversy.* 

"  In  the  first  place,  the  action  of  the  sun  on  terrestrial  bodies, 
teaching  them  to  regard  his  substance  as  a  pure  and  element- 
ary fire,  they  made  it  the  focus  and  reservoir  of  an  ocean  of 
igneous  and  luminous  fluid,  which,  under  the  name  of  ether, 
filled  the  universe  and  nourished  all  beings.  Afterwards, 
having  discovered,  by  a  physical  and  attentive  analysis,  this 
same  fire,  or  another  perfectly  resembling  it,  in  the  composi- 
tion of  all  bodies,  and  having  perceived  it  to  be  the  essential 
agent  of  that  spontaneous  movement  which  is  called  life  in 
animals  and  vegetation  in  plants,  they'conceived  the  mechan- 
ism and  harmony  of  the  universe, 'as  of  a  homogeneous  whole, 
of  one  identical  body,  whose  parts,  though  distant,  had  never- 
theless an  intimate  relation  ;  f  and  the  world  was  a  living 
being,  animated  by  the  organic  circulation  of  an  igneous  and 
even  electrical  fluid,!  which,  by  a  term  of  comparison  borrow- 
ed first  from  men  and  animals,  had  the  sun  for  a  heart  and  a 
focus. § 

"  From  this  time  the  physical  theologians  seem  to  have 

'Consult  the  Ancient  Astronomy  of  M.  Bailly,  and  you  will  find  our  assertions 
respecting  the  knowledge  of  the  priests  amply  proved. 

t  These  are  the  very  words  of  Jamblicus.    De  Myst,  Egypt. 

J  The  more  I  consider  what  the  ancients  understood  by  ether  and  spirit,  and 
what  the  Indians  call  akache,  the  stronger  do  I  find  the  analogy  between  it  and 
the  eleclrial  fluid.  A  luminous  fluid,  principle  of  warmth  and  motion,  pervading 
the  universe,  forming  the  matter  of  the  stars,  having  small  round  particles,  which 
insinuate  themselves  into  bodies,  and  fill  them  by  dilating  itself,  be  their  extent 
what  it  will.  What  can  more  strongly  resemble  electricity? 

§  Natural  philosophers,  says  Macrobius,  call  the  sun  the  heart  of  the  world. 
Sam.  Scrip,  c.  20.  The  Egyptians,  says  Plutarch,  call  the  East  the  face,  the 
North  the  right  side,  and  the  South  the  left  side  of  the  world,  because  there  the 
heart  is  placed.  They  continually  compare  the  universe  to  a  man ;  and  hence 
the  celebrated  microcosm  of  the  Alchymists.  We  observe,  by  the  bye,  that  the 


142  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

divided  into  several  classes ;  one  class,  grounding  itself  on 
these  principles  resulting  from  observation  ;  that  nothing  can 
be  annihilated  in  the  world  ;  that  the  elements  are  indestructi- 
ble ;  that  they  change  their  combinations  but  not  their  nature ; 
that  the  life  and  death  of  beings  are  but  the  different  modifica- 
tions of  the  same  atoms  ;  that  matter  itself  possesses  proper- 
ties which  give  rise  to  all  its  modes  of  existence  ;  that  the 
world  is  eternal,*  or  unlimited  in  space  and  duration  ;  said 
that  the  whole  universe  was  God ;  and,  according  to  them, 
God  was^i  being,  effect  and  cause,  agent  and  patient,  moving 
principle  and  thing  moved,  having  for  laws  the  invariable 
properties  that  constitute  fatality;  and  this  class  conveyed 
their  idea  by  the  emblem  of  Pan  (the  great  whole) ;  or  of  Jupiter, 
with  a  forehead  of  stars,  body  of  planets,  and  feet  of  animals  ; 
or  of  the  Orphic  Egg,f  whose  yolk,  suspended  in  the  center 
of  a  liquid,  surrounded  by  a  vault,  represented  the  globe  of 
the  sun,  swimming  in  ether  in  the  midst  of  the  vault  of 
heaven  ;  J  sometimes  by  a  great  round  serpent,  representing 
the  heavens  where  they  placed  the  moving  principle,  and  for 
that  reason  of  an  azure  color,  studded  with  spots  of  gold,  (the 
stars)  devouring  his  tail — that  is,  folding  and  unfolding  him- 
self eternally,  like  the  revolutions  of  the  spheres  ;  sometimes 
by  that  of  a  man,  having  his  feet  joined  together  and  tied, 
to  signify  immutable  existence,  wrapped  in  a  cloak  of  all 
colors,  like  the  face  of  nature,  and  bearing  on  his  head  a 

Alchymists,  Cabalists,  Free-masons,  Magnetisers,  Martinists,  and  every  other 
such  sort  of  visionaries,  are  but  the  mistaken  disciples  of  this  ancient  school :  we 
say  mistaken,  because,  in  spite  of  their  pretensions,  the  thread  of  the  occult 
science  is  broken. 

*  See  the  Pythagorean,  Ocellus  Lacunus, 

t  Vide  CEdip.  AZgypt.  Tome  II.,  page  205. 

\  This  comparison  of  the  sun  with  the  yolk  of  an  egg  refers :  i.  To  its  round 
and  yellow  figure;  2.  To  its  central  situation  ;  3.  To  the  germ  or  principle  of  life 
contained  in  the  yolk.  May  not  the  oval  form  of  the  egg  allude  to  the  elipsis  of 
the  orbs?  I  am  inclined  to  this  opinion.  The  word  Orphic  offers  a  farther  obser- 
vation. Macrobius  says  (Som.  Scrip,  c.  14.  and  c.  20),  that  the  sun  is  the  brain  of 
the  universe,  and  that  it  is  from  analogy  that  the  skull  of  a  human  being  is  round, 
like  the  planet,  the  seat  of  intelligence.  Now  the  word  CErph  signifies  in  Hebrew 
the  brain  and  its  seat  (cervix) :  Orpheus,  then,  is  the  same  as  Bedou  or  Baits ; 
and  the  Bonzes  are  those  very  Orphics  which  Plutarch  represents  as  quacks,  who 
ate  no  meat,  vended  talismans  and  little  stones,  and  deceived  individuals,  and 
even  governments  themselves.  See  a  learned  memoir  of  Freret  surles  Orphiques, 
Acad.  des  Inscrp.  vol.  as,  in  Quarto. 


THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  143 

sphere  of  gold,*  emblem  of  the  sphere  of  the  stars  ;  or  by  that 
of  another  man,  sometimes  seated  on  the  flower  of  the  lotos 
borne  on  the  abyss  of  waters,  sometimes  lying  on  a  pile  of 
twelve  cushions,  denoting  the  twelve  celestial  signs.  And 
here,  Indians,  Japanese,  Siamese,  Tibetans,  and  Chinese,  is 
the  theology,  which,  founded  by  the  Egyptians  and  trans- 
mitted to  you,  is  preserved  in  the  pictures  which  you  compose 
of  Brama,  of  Beddou,  of  Somona-Kodom,  of  Omito.  This,  ye 
Jews  and  Christians,  is  likewise  the  opinion  of  which  you 
have  preserved  a  part  in  your  God  moving  on  the  face  of  the 
waters,  by  an  allusion  to  the  wind  f  which,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  world,  that  is,  the  departure  of  the  sun  from  the  sign  of 
Cancer,  announced  the  inundation  of  the  Nile,  and  seemed 
to  prepare  the  creation. 

VII.  Seventh  System.  Worship  of  the  SOUL  of  the  WORLD,  that 
is  to  say,  the  Element  of  Fire,  vital  Principle  of  the  Universe. 

"  But  others,  disgusted  at  the  idea  of  a  being  at  once  effect 
and  cause,  agent  and  patient,  and  uniting  contrary  natures  in 
the  same  nature,  distinguished  the  moving  principle  from  the 
thing  moved ;  and  premising  that  matter  in  itself  was  inert, 
they  pretended  that  its  properties  were  communicated  to  it 
by  a  distinct  agent,  of  which  itself  was  only  the  cover  or  the 
case.  This  agent  was  called  by  some  the  igneous  principle, 
known  to  be  the  author  of  all  motion  ;  by  others  it  was  sup- 
posed to  be  the  fluid  called  ether,  which  was  thought  more 
active  and  subtile  ;  and,  as  in  animals  the  vital  and  moving 
principle  was  sailed  a  soul,  a  spirit,  and  as  they  reasoned  con- 
stantly by  comparisons,  especially  those  drawn  from  human 
beings,  they  gave  to  the  moving  principle  of  the  universe  the 
name  of  soul,  intelligence,  spirit ;  and  God  was  the  vital  spirit, 
which  extended  through  all  beings  and  animated  the  vast 
body  of  the  world.  And  this  class  conveyed  their  idea  some- 
•  times  by  Youpiter.J  essence  of  motion  and  animation,  princi- 
ple of  existence,  or  rather  existence  itself  ;  sometimes  by 

*See  Porphyry  in  Eusebus,  Prcep.  Evang.,  lib,  3,  p.  115. 

t  The  Northern  or  Etesian  wind,  which  commences  regularly  at  the  solstice, 
with  the  inundation. 

J  This  is  the  true  pronunciation  of  the  Jupiter  of  the  Latins.  .  .  .  Existence 
itself.  This  is  the  signification  of  the  word  You. 


144  THE   RUINS  OF    EMPIRES. 

Vulcan  or  Phtha,  elementary  principle  of  fire ;  or  by  the  altar 
of  Vesta,  placed  in  the  center  of  her  temple  like  the  sun  in  the 
heavens  ;  sometimes  by  Kneph,  a  human  figure,  dressed  in 
dark  blue,  having  in  one  hand  a  sceptre  and  a  girdle  (the 
zodiac),  with  a  cap  of  feathers  to  express  the  fugacity  of 
thought,  and  producing  from  his  mouth  the  great  egg. 

"  Now,  as  a  consequence  of  this  system,  every  being  con- 
taining in  itself  a  portion  of  the  igneous  and  etherial  fluid, 
common  and  universal  mover,  and  this  fluid  soul  of  the  world 
being  God,  it  followed  that  the  souls  of  all  beings  were  por- 
tions of  God  himself,  partaking  of  all  his  attributes,  that  is, 
being  a  substance  indivisible,  simple,  and  immortal  ;  and 
hence  the  whole  system  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  which 
at  first  was  eternity.* 

*  In  the  system  of  the  first  spiritualists,  the  soul  was  not  created  with,  or  at  the 
same  time  as  the  body,  in  order  to  be  inserted  in  it :  its  existence  was  supposed 
to  be  anterior  and  from  all  eternity.  Such,  in  a  few  words,  is  the  doftrine  of 
Macrobius  on  this  head.  Som.  Seip.  passim. 

"There  exists  a  luminous,  igneous,  subtile  fluid,  which  under  the  name  of 
ether  and  spiritus,  fills  the  universe.  It  is  the  essential  principle  and  agent  of 
motion  and  life,  it  is  the  Deity.  When  an  earthly  body  is  to  be  animated,  a  small 
round  particle  of  this  fluid  gravitates  through  the  milky  way  towards  the  lunar 
sphere ;  where,  when  it  arrives,  it-  unites  with  a  grosser  air,  and  becomes  fit  to 
associate  with  matter :  it  then  enters  and  entirely  fills  the  body,  animates  it, 
suffers,  grows,  increases,  and  diminishes  with  it ;  lastly,  when  the  body  dies,  and 
its  gross  elements  dissolve,  this  incorruptible  particle  takes  its  leave  of  it,  and 
returns  to  the  grand  ocean  of  ether,  if  not  retained  by  its  union  with  the  lunar 
air :  it  is  this  air  or  gas,  which,  retaining  the  shape  of  the  body,  becomes  a  phan- 
tom or  ghost,  the  perfect  representation  of  the  deceased.  The  Greeks  called  this 
phantom  the  image  or  idol  of  the  soul ;  the  Pythagoreans,  its  chariot,  its  frame  ; 
and  the  Rabbinical  school,  its  vessel,  or  boat.  When  a  man  had  conducted  him- 
self well  in  this  world,  his  whole  soul,  that  is  its  chariot  and  ether,  ascended  to 
the  moon,  where  a  separation  took  place  :  the  chariot  lived  in  the  lunar  Elysium, 
and  the  ether  returned  to  the  fixed  sphere,  that  is,  to  God  :  for  the  fixed  heaven, 
says  Macrobius,  was  by  many  called  by  the  name  of  God  (c.  14).  If  a  man  had 
not  lived  virtuously,  the  soul  remained  on  earth  to  undergo  purification,  and  was 
to  wander  to  and  fro,  like  the  ghosts  of  Homer,  to  whom  this  doftrine  must  have 
been  known,  since  he  wrote  after  the  time  of  Pherecydes  and  Pythagoras,  who 
were  its  promulgators  in  Greece.  Herodotus  upon  this  occasion  says,  that  the 
whole  romance  of  the  soul  and  its  transmigrations  was  invented  by  the  Egyptians, 
and  propagated  in  Greece  by  men,  who  pretended  to  be  its  authors.  I  know  their 
names,  adds  he,  but  shall  not  mention  them  (lib.  2).  Cicero,  however,  has  posi- 
tively informed  us,  that  it  was  Pherecydes,  master  of  Pythagoras.  Tuscul.  lib.  i, 
se£l.  16.  Now  admitting  that  this  system  was  at  that  period  a  novelty,  it  accounts 
for  Solomon's  treating  it  as  a  fable,  who  lived  130  years  before  Pherecydes. 
"  Who  knoweth,"  said  he,  "  the  spirit  of  a  man  that  it  goeth  upwards?  I  said  in 
my  heart  concerning  the  estate  of  the  sons  of  men,  that  God  might  manifest  them 


THE   RUINS   OF    EMPIRES.  145 

"  Hence,  also  its  transmigrations,  known  by  the  name  of 
metempsychosis,  that  is,  the  passage  of  the  vital  principle  from 
one  body  to  another  ;  an  idea  which  arose  from  the  real  trans- 
migration of  the  material  elements.  And  behold,  ye  Indians, 
ye  Boudhists,  ye  Christians,  ye  Mussulmans!  whence  are 
derived  all  your  opinions  on  the  spirituality  of  the  soul ;  behold 
what  was  the  source  of  the  dreams  of  Pythagoras  and  Plato, 
your  masters,  who  were  themselves  but  the  echoes  of  another, 
the  last  sect  of  visionary  philosophers,  which  we  will  proceed 
to  examine. 

VIII.  Eighth  system.    The  WORLD-MACHINE  :   Worship  of  the 

Demi-  Ourgos,  or  Grand  Artificer. 

"  Hitherto  the  theologians,  employing  themselves  in  exam- 
ining the  fine  and  subtile  substances  of  ether  or  the  generating 
fire,  had  not,  however,  ceased  to  treat  of  beings  palpable  and 
perceptible  to  the  senses ;  and  theology  continued  to  be  the 
theory  of  physical  powers,  placed  sometimes  exclusively  in 
the  stars,  and  sometimes  disseminated  through  the  universe  ; 
but  at  this  period,  certain  superficial  minds,  losing  the  chain 
of  ideas  which  had  directed  them  in  their  profound  studies, 
or  ignorant  of  the  facts  on  which  they  were  founded,  distorted 
all  the  conclusions  that  flowed  from  thereby  the  introduction 
of  a  strange  and  novel  chimera.  They  pretended  that  this  uni- 
verse, these  heavens,  these  stars,  this  sun,  differed  in  no  respect 
from  an  ordinary  machine  ;  and  applying  to  this  first  hypothe- 
sis a  comparison  drawn  from  the  works  of  art,  they  raised  an 
edifice  of  the  most  whimsical  sophisms.  A  machine,  said 
they,  does  not  make  itself ;  it  has  had  an  anterior  workman  ; 
its  very  existence  proves  it.  The  world  is  a  machine  ;  there- 
fore it  had  an  artificer.* 

and  that  they  might  see  that  they  themselves  are  beasts.  For  that  which  befalleth 
the  sons  of  men,  befalleth  beasts ;  even  one  thing  befalleth  them  :  as  the  one  dieth, 
so  dieth  the  other ;  yea  they  have  all  one  breath,  so  that  a  man  hath  no  pre- 
eminence above  a  beast :  for  all  is  vanity."  Eccles.  c.  iii :  v.  18. 

And  such  had  been  the  opinion  of  Moses,  as  a  translator  of  Herodotus  (M. 
Archer  of  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions)  justly  observes  in  note  389  of  the  second 
book ;  where  he  says  also  that  the  immortality  of  the  soul  was  not  introduced 
among  the  Hebrews  till  their  intercourse  with  the  Assyrians.  In  other  respefls, 
the  whole  Pythagorean  system,  properly  analysed,  appears  to  be  merely  a  system 
of  physics  badly  understood. 

*  All  the  arguments  of  the  spiritualists  are  founded  on  this.  See  Afacrobius,  at 
the  end  of  the  second  book,  and  Plato,  with  the  comments  of  Marcilius  Ficmus. 


146  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

"  Here,  then,  is  the  Demi-Ourgos  or  grand  artificer,  con- 
stituted God  autocratical  and  supreme.  In  vain  the  ancient 
philosophy  objected  to  this  by  saying  that  the  artificer  himself 
must  have  had  parents  and  progenitors  ;  and  that  they  only 
added  another  step  to  the  ladder  by  taking  eternity  from  the 
world,  and  giving  it  to  its  supposed  author.  The  innovators, 
not  content  with  this  first  paradox,  passed  on  to  a  second ; 
and,  applying  to  their  artificer 'the  theory  of  the  human  under- 
standing, they  pretended  that  the  Demi-Ourgos  had  framed 
his  machine  on  a  plan  already  existing  in  his  understanding. 
Now,  as  their  masters,  the  naturalists,  had  placed  in  the  re- 
gions of  the  fixed  stars  the  great  primum  mobile,  under  the 
name  of  intelligence  and  reason,  so  their  mimics,  the  spiritu- 
alists, seizing  this  idea,  applied  it  to  their  Demi-Ourgos,  and 
making  it  a  substance  distinct  and  self-existent,  they  called  it 
mens  or  logos  (reason  or  word).  And,  as  they  likewise  ad- 
mitted the  existence  of  the  soul  of  the  world,  or  solar  principle, 
they  found  themselves  obliged  to  compose  three  grades  of 
divine  beings,  which  were :  first,  the  Demi-Ourgos,  or  working 
god  ;  secondly,  the  logos,  word  or  reason  ;  thirdly,  the  spirit  or 
soul  (of  the  world).*  And  here,  Christians !  is  the  romance  on 
which  you  have  founded  your  trinity  ;  here  is  the  system 
which,  born  a  heretic  in  the  temples  of  Egypt,  transported  a 
pagan  into  the  schools  of  Greece  and  Italy,  is  now  found  to 
be  good,  catholic,  and  orthodox,  by  the  conversion  of  its  par- 
tisans, the  disciples  of  Pythagoras  and  Plato,  to  Christianity. 

"  It  is  thus  that  God,  after  having  been,  First,  The  visible  and 
various  action  of  the  meteors  and  the  elements ; 

"  Secondly,  The  combined  powers  of  the  stars,  considered 
in  their  relations  to  terrestrial  beings  ; 

"  Thirdly,  These  terrestrial  beings  themselves,  by  confound- 
ing the  symbols  with  their  archetypes ; 

"  Fourthly,  The  double  power  of  nature  in  its  two  principal 
operations  of  producing  and  destroying ; 

"  Fifthly,  The  animated  world,  with  distinction  of  agent  and 
patient,  of  effect  and  cause  ; 

"  Sixthly,  The  solar  principle,  or  the  element  of  fire  con- 
sidered as  the  only  mover ; 

"  Has  thus  become,  finally,  in  the  last  resort,  a  chimerical 

*  These  are  the  real  types  of  the  Christian  Trinity. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  147 

and  abstract  being,  a  scholastic  subtilty,  of  substance  without 
form,  a  body  without  a  figure,  a  very  delirium  of  the  mind, 
beyond  the  power  of  reason  to  comprehend.  But  vainly  does 
it  seek  in  this  last  transformation  to  elude  the  senses ;  the 
seal  of  its  origin  is  imprinted  upon  it  too  deep  to  be  effaced  ; 
and  its  attributes,  all  borrowed  from  the  physical  attributes  of 
the  universe,  such  as  immensity,  eternity,  indivisibility,  in- 
comprehensibility ;  or  on  the  moral  affections  of  man,  such  as 
goodness,  justice,  majesty ;  its  names*  even,  all  derived  from 
the  physical  beings  which  were  its  types,  and  especially  from 
the  sun,  from  the  planets,  and  from  the  world,  constantly 
bring  to  mind,  in  spite  of  its  corrupters,  indelible  marks  of 
its  real  nature. 

*  In  our  last  analysis  we  found  all  the  names  of  the  Deity  to  be  derived  from 
some  material  object  in  which  it  was  supposed  to  reside.  We  have  given  a  con- 
siderable number  of  instances ;  let  us  add  one  more  relative  to  our  word  God. 
This  is  known  to  be  the  Deus  of  the  Latins,  and  the  Theos  of  the  Greeks.  Now 
by  the  confession  of  Plato  (in  Cratylo),o(  Macrobius  (Saturn,  lib.  I,  c.  24,)  and  of 
Plutarch  (his  and  Osiris)  its  root  is  thein,  which  signifies  to  wander,  like  planein, 
that  is  to  say,  it  is  synonymous  with  planets  ;  because,  add  our  authors,  both  the 
ancient  Greeks  and  Barbarians  particularly  worshipped  the  planets.  I  know  that 
such  enquiries  into  etymologies  have  been  much  decried :  but  if,  as  is  the  case, 
words  are  the  representative  signs  of  ideas,  the  genealogy  of  the  one  becomes 
that  of  the  other,  and  a  good  etymological  dictionary  would  be  the  most  perfect 
history  of  the  human  understanding.  It  would  only  be  necessary  in  this  enquiry 
to  observe  certain  precautions,  which  have  hitherto  been  neglected,  and  particu- 
larly to  make  an  exact  comparison  of  the  value  of  the  letters  of  the  different  alpha- 
bets. But,  to  continue  our  subject,  we  shall  add,  that  in  the  Phoenician  language, 
the  word  thah  (with  ain)  signifies  also  to  wander,  and  appears  to  be  the  deriva- 
tion of  thein.  If  we  suppose  Deus  to  be  derived  from  the  Greek  Zeus,  a  proper 
name  of  You-piter,  having  zaw,  I  live,  for  its  root,  its  sense  will  be  precisely  that 
of  you,  and  will  mean  soul  of  the  world,  igneous  principle.  (See  note  p.  143).  Div-us, 
which  only  signifies  Genius,  God  of  the  second  order,  appears  to  me  to  come  from 
the  oriental  word  div  substituted  for  dib,  wolf  and  chacal,  one  of  the  emblems  of 
the  sun.  At  Thebes,  says  Macrobius,  the  sun  was  painted  under  the  form  of  a 
wolf  or  chacal,  for  there  are  no  wolves  in  Egypt.  The  reason  of  this  emblem, 
doubtless,  is  that  the  chacal,  like  the  cock  announces  by  its  cries  the  sun's  rising  ; 
and  this  reason  is  confirmed  by  the  analogy  of  the  words  lykos,  wolf,  and  lykit 
light  of  the  morning,  whence  comes  lux. 

Dius,  which  is  to  be  understood  also  of  the  sun,  must  be  derived  from  dih,  a 
hawk.  "  The  Egyptians,"  says  Porphyry  (Euseb.  Pracep.  Evang.  p.  92,)  "  repre- 
sent the  sun  under  the  emblem  of  a  hawk,  because  this  bird  soars  to  the  highest 
regions  of  air  where  light  abounds."  And  in  reality  we  continually  see  at  Cairo 
large  flights  of  these  birds,  hovering  in  the  air,  from  whence  they  descend  not 
but  to  stun  us  with  their  shrieks,  which  are  like  the  monosyllable  dih  :  and  here, 
as  in  the  preceding  example,  we  find  an  analogy  between  the  word  dies,  day, 
light,  and  dius,  god,  sun. 


148  THE  RUINS   OF  EMPIRES. 

"  Such  is  the  chain  of  ideas  which  the  human  min'd  had 
already  run  through  at  an  epoch  previous  to  the  records  of 
history  ;  and  since  their  continuity  proves  that  they  were  the 
produce  of  the  same  series  of  studies  and  labors,  we  have 
every  reason  to  place  their  origin  in  Egypt,  the  cradle  of 
their  first  elements.  This  progress  there  may  have  been 
rapid  ;  because  the  physical  priests  had  no  other  food,  in  the 
retirement  of  the  temples,  but  the  enigma  of  the  universe, 
always  present  to  their  minds  ;  and  because  in  the  political 
districts  into  which  that  country  was  for  a  long  time  divided, 
every  state  had  its  college  of  priests,  who,  being  by  turns 
auxiliaries  or  rivals,  hastened  by  their  disputes  the  progress 
of  science  and  discovery.* 

*  One  of  the  proofs  that  all  these  systems  were  invented  in  Egypt,  is  that  this  is 
the  only  country  where  we  see  a  complete  body  of  doftrine  formed  from  the  re- 
motest antiquity. 

Clemens  Alexandrinus  has  transmitted  to  us  (Stromat.  lib.  6,)  a  curious  detail 
of  the  forty-two  volumes  which  were  borne  in  the  procession  of  Isis.  "  The 
priest,"  says  he,  "  or  chanter,  carries  one  of  the  symbolic  instruments  of  music, 
aud  two  of  the  books  of  Mercury ;  one  containing  hymns  of  the  gods,  the  other 
the  list  of  kings.  Next  to  him  the  horoscope  (the  regulator  of  time,)  carries  a 
palm  and  a  dial,  symbols  of  astrology  ;  he  must  know  by  heart  the  four  books  of 
Mercury  which  treat  of  astrology  :  the  first  on  the  order  of  the  planets,  the 
second  on  the  risings  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  the  two  last  on  the  rising  and 
aspect  of  the  stars.  Then  comes  the  sacred  author,  with  feathers  on  his  head 
(like  Kneph)  and  a  book  in  his  hand,  together  with  ink,  and  a  reed  to  write  with, 
(as  is  still  the  practice  among  the  Arabs).  He  must  be  versed  in  hieroglyphics, 
must  understand  the  description  of  the  universe,  the  course  of  the  sun,  moon, 
stars,  and  planets,  be  acquainted  with  the  division  of  Egypt  into  thirty-six 
names,  with  the  course  of  the  Nile,  with  instruments,  measures,  sacred  ornaments, 
and  sacred  places.  Next  comes  the  stole  bearer,  who  carries  the  cubit  of  justice, 
or  measure  of  the  Nile,  and  a  cup  for  the  libations ;  he  bears  also  in  the  procession 
ten  volumes  on  the  subject  of  sacrifices,  hymns,  prayers,  offerings,  ceremonies, 
festivals.  Lastly  arrives  the  prophet,  bearing  in  his  bosom  a  pitcher,  so  as  to  be 
exposed  to  view ;  he  is  followed  by  persons  carrying  bread  (as  at  the  marriage  of 
Cana.)  This  prophet,  as  president  of  the  mysteries,  learns  ten  other  sacred 
volumes,  which  treat  of  the  laws,  the  gods,  and  the  discipline  of  the  priests.  Now 
there  are  in  all  forty-two  volumes,  thirty-six  of  which  are  studied  and  got  by 
heart  by  these  personages,  and  the  remaining  six  are  set  apart  to  be  consulted  by 
the  pastopkores ;  they  treat  of  medicine,  the  construction  of  the  human  body 
(anatomy),  diseases,  remedies,  instruments,  etc.,  etc." 

We  leave  the  reader  to  deduce  all  the  consequences  of  an  Encyclopedia.  It  is 
ascribed  to  Mercury  ;  but  Jamblicus  tells  us  that  each  book,  composed  by  priests, 
was  dedicated  to  that  god,  who,  on  account  of  his  title  of  genius  or  decan  open- 
ing the  zodiac,  presided  over  every  enterprise.  He  is  the  yanus  of  the  Romans, 
and  the  Guianesa  of  the  Indians,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  Yanus  and  Guianes 
are  homonymous.  In  short  it  appears  that  these  books  are  the  source  of  all  that 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  149 

"  There  happened  early  on  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  what 
has  since  been  repeated  in  every  country  ;  as  soon  as  a  new 
system  was  formed  its  novelty  excited  quarrels  and  schisms  ; 
then,  gaining  credit  by  persecution  itself,  sometimes  it  effaced 
antecedent  ideas,  sometimes  it  modified  and  incorporated 
them ;  then,  by  the  intervention  of  political  revolutions,  the 
aggregation  of  states  and  the  mixture  of  nations  confused  all 
opinions  ;  and  the  filiation  of  ideas  being  lost,  theology  fell 
into  a  chaos,  and  became  a  mere  logogriph  of  old  traditions 
no  longer  understood.  Religion,  having  strayed  from  its  ob- 
ject was  now  nothing  more  than  a  political  engine  to  conduct 
the  credulous  vulgar ;  and  it  was  used  for  this  purpose,  some- 
times by  men  credulous  themselves  and  dupes  of  their  own 
visions,  and  sometimes  by  bold  and  energetic  spirits  in  pur- 
suit of  great  objects  of  ambition. 

IX.   Religion  of  Moses,  or  Worship  of  the  Soul  of  the  World 
(  You-piter). 

"  Such  was  the  legislator  of  the  Hebrews  ;  (who,  wishing  to 
separate  his  nation  from  all  others,  and  to  form  a  distinct  and 
solitary  empire,  conceived  the  design  of  establishing  its  basis 
on  religious  prejudices,  and  of  raising  around  it  a  sacred  ram- 
part of  opinions  and  of  rites.  But  in  vain  did  he  prescribe 
the  worship  of  the  symbols  which  prevailed  in  lower  Egypt 
and  in  Phoenicia ;  *  for  his  god  was  nevertheless  an  Egyptian 
god,  invented  by  those  priests  of  whom  Moses  had  been  the 
disciple  ;  and  Yahouh,^  betrayed  by  its  very  name,  essence  (of 

has  been  transmitted  to  us  by  the  Greeks  and  Latins  in  every  science,  even  in 
alchymy,  necromancy,  etc.  What  is  most  to  be  regretted  in  their  loss  is  that 
part  which  related  to  the  principles  of  medicine  and  diet,  in  which  the  Egyptians 
appear  to  have  made  a  considerable  progress,  and  to  have  delivered  many  useful 
observations. 

*  "  At  a  certain  period,"  says  Plutarch  (de  Iside)  "  all  the  Egyptians  have  their 
animal  gods  painted.  The  Thebans  are  the  only  people  who  do  not  employ 
painters,  because  they  worship  a  god  whose  form  comes  not  under  the  senses,  and 
cannot  be  represented."  And  this  is  the  god  whom  Moses,  educated  at  Heliop- 
olis,  adopted  ;  but  the  idea  was  not  of  his  invention. 

fSuch  is  the  true  pronunciation  of  the  Jehovah  of  the  moderns,  who  violate, 
in  this  respect,  every  rule  of  criticism  ;  since  it  is  evident  that  the  ancients,  par- 
ticularly the  eastern  Syrians  and  Phoenicians,  were  acquainted  neither  with  the 
y  nor  the  V,  which  are  of  Tartar  origin.  The  subsisting  usage  of  the  Arabs, 
which  we  have  re-established  here,  is  confirmed  by  Diodorus,  who  calls  the  god 


150  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

/• 

beings),  and  by  its  symbol,  the  burning  bush,  is  only  the  soul 
of  the  world,  the  moving  principle  which  the  Greeks  soon 

of  Moses  law ,  (lib.  i),  and  law  and  Yahouh  are  manifestly  the  same  word  :  the 
identity  continues  in  that  of  You-piter  ;  but  in  order  to  render  it  more  complete, 
we  shall  demonstrate  the  signification  to  be  the  same. 

In  Hebrew,  that  is  to  say,  in  one  of  the  dialects  of  the  common  language  of 
lower  Asia,  Yahouh  is  the  participle  of  the  verb  hih,  to  exist,  to  be,  and  signifies 
existing ;  in  other  words,  the  principle  of  life,  the  mover  or  even  motion  (the 
universal  soul  of  beings).  Now  what  is  Jupiter?  Let  us  hear  the  Greeks  and 
Latins  explain  their  theology.  "  The  Egyptians,"  says  Diodorus,  after  Manatho, 
priest  of  Memphis,  "  in  giving  names  to  the  five  elements,  called  spirit,  or  ether, 
You-piter,  on  account  of  the  true  meaning  of  that  word  :  for  spirit  is  the  source 
of  life,  author  of  the  vital  principle  in  animals  ;  and  for  this  reason  they  considered 
him  as  the  father,  the  generator  of  beings."  For  the  same  reason  Homer  says, 
father,  and  king  of  men  and  gods.  (Diod.  lib.  i,  se6l  i). 

"  Theologians,"  says  Macrobius,  "  consider  You-piter  as  the  soul  of  the  world." 
Hence  the  words  of  Virgil :  "Muses  let  us  begin  with  You-piter;  the  world  is 
full  of  You-piter."  (Somn.  Scrip.,  ch.  17).  And  in  the  Saturnalia,  he  says, 
"Jupiter  is  the  sun  himself."  It  was  this  also  which  made  Virgil  say,  "  The 
spirit  nourishes  the  life  (of  beings),  and  the  soul  diffused  through  the  vast  mem- 
bers (of  the  universe),  agitates  the  whole  mass,  and  forms  but  one  immense 
body." 

"  loupiter,"  says  the  ancient  verses  of  the  Orphic  se£l,  which  originated  in 
Egypt;  verses  collected  by  Onomacritus  in  the  days  of  Pisistratus,  "loupiter, 
represented  with  the  thunder  in  his  hand,  is  the  beginning,  origin,  end,  and 
middle  of  all  things :  a  single  and  universal  power,  he  governs  every  thing ; 
heaven,  earth,  fire,  water,  the  elements,  day,  and  night.  These  are  what  consti- 
tute his  immense  body :  his  eyes  are  the  sun  and  moon  :  he  is  space  and  eternity  : 
in  fine,"  adds  Porphyry.  "Jupiter  is  the  world,  the  universe,  that  which  consti- 
tutes the  essence  and  life  of  all  beings.  Now,"  continues  the  same  author,  "  as 
philosophers  differed  in  opinion  respecting  the  nature  and  constituent  parts  of 
this  god,  and  as  they  could  invent  no  figure  that  should  represent  all  his  attributes, 
they  painted  him  in  the  form  of  a  man.  He  is  in  a  sitting  posture,  in  allusion 
to  his  immutable  essence  ;  the  upper  part  of  his  body  is  uncovered,  because  it  is 
in  the  upper  regions  of  the  universe  (the  stars)  that  he  most  conspicuously  dis- 
plays himself.  He  is  covered  from  the  waist  downwards,  because  respecting  ter- 
restrial things  he  is  more  secret  and  concealed.  He  holds  a  scepter  in  his  left 
hand,  because  on  the  left  side  is  the  heart,  and  the  heart  is  the  seat  of  the  under- 
standing, which,  (in  human  beings)  regulates  every  action."  Euseb.  Praper. 
Evang.,  p.  100. 

The  following  passage  of  the  geographer  and  philosopher,  Strabo,  removes 
every  doubt  as  to  the  identity  of  the  ideas  of  Moses  and  those  of  the  heathen 
theologians. 

"  Moses,  who  was  one  of  the  Egyptian  priests,  taught  his  followers  that  it  was 
an  egregious  error  to  represent  the  Deity  under  the  form  of  animals,  as  the 
Egyptians  did,  or  in  the  shape  of  man,  as  was  the  practice  of  the  Greeks  and 
Africans.  That  alone  is  the  Deity,  said  he,  which  constitutes  heaven,  earth,  and 
every  living  thing;  that  which  we  call  the  world,  the  sum  of  all  things,  nature ; 
and  no  reasonable  person  will  think  of  representing  such  a  being  by  the  image  of 
any  one  of  the  objects  around  us.  It  is  for  this  reason,  that,  rejecting  every 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  15! 

after  adopted  under  the  same  denomination  in  their  you-piter, 
regenerating  being,  and  under  that  of  Ei,  existence,*  which 
the  Thebans  consecrated  by  the  name  of  Kneph,  which  Sais 
worshipped  under  the  emblem  of  Isis  veiled,  with  this  inscrip- 
tion :  I  am  all  that  has  been,  all  that  is,  and  all  that  is  to  come, 
and  no  mortal  has  raised  my  veil ;  which  Pythagoras  honored 
under  the  name  of  Vesta,  and  which  the  stoic  philosophy  de- 
fined precisely  by  calling  it  the  principle  of  fire.  In  vain  did 
Moses  wish  to  blot  from  his  religion  every  thing  which  had 
relation  to  the  stars  ;  many  traits  call  them  to  mind  in  spite 
of  all  he  has  done.  The  seven  planetary  luminaries  of  the 
great  candlestick ;  the  twelve  stones,  or  signs  in  the  Urim  of 
the  high  priests  ;  the  feast  of  the  two  equinoxes,  (entrances 
and  gates  of  the  two  hemispheres) ;  the  ceremony  of  the 
lamb,  (the  celestial  ram  then  in  his  fifteenth  degree)  ;  lastly, 
the  name  even  of  Osiris  preserved  in  his  song.f  and  the  ark, 
or  coffer,  an  imitation  of  the  tomb  in  which  that  God  was  laid, 
all  remain  as  so  many  witnesses  of  the  filiation  of  his  ideas, 
and  of  their  extraction  from  the  common  source. 

species  of  images  or  idols,  Moses  wished  the  Deity  to  be  worshipped  without 
emblems,  and  according  to  his  proper  nature  ;  and  he  accordingly  ordered  a 
temple  worthy  of  him  to  be  creeled,  etc.  Geograph.  lib.  16,  p."  1104,  edition  of 
1707. 

The  theology  of  Moses  has,  then,  differed  in  no  respefl  from  that  of  his  follow- 
ers, that  is  to  say,  from  that  of  the  Stoics  and  Epicureans,  who  consider  the  Deity 
as  the  soul  of  the  world.  This  philosophy  appears  to  have  taken  birth,  or  to  have 
been  disseminated  when  Abraham  came  into  Egypt  (200  years  before  Moses), 
since  he  quitted  his  system  of  idols  for  that  of  the  god  Yahouh  ;  so  that  we  may 
place  its  promulgation  about  the  seventeenth  or  eighteenth  century  before  Christ ; 
which  corresponds  with  what  we  have  said  before. 

As  to  the  history  of  Moses,  Diodorus  properly  represents  it  when  he  says,  lib. 
34  and  40.  "  That  the  Jews  were  driven  out  of  Egypt  at  a  time  of  dearth,  when 
the  country  was  full  of  foreigners,  and  that  Moses,  a  man  of  extraordinary  prudence 
seized  this  opportunity  of  establishing  his  religion  in  the  mountains  of  Judea." 
It  will  seem  paradoxical  to  assert,  that  the  600,000  armed  men  whom  he  conduct- 
ed thither  ought  to  be  reduced  to  6,000  ;  but  I  can  confirm  the  assertion  by  so 
many  proofs  drawn  from  the  books  themselves,  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  cor- 
rect an  error  which  appears  to  have  arisen  from  the  mistake  of  the  transcribers. 

*  This  was  the  monosyllable  written  on  the  gates  of  the  temple  of  Delphos.  Plu- 
tarch has  made  it  the  subject  of  a  dissertation. 

t  These  are  the  literal  expressions  of  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  chap,  xxxii. 
"  The  works  of  Tsour  are  perfect."  Now  Tsour  has  been  translated  by  the  word 
creator ;  its  proper  signification  is  to  give/arms,  and  this  is  one  of  the  definitions 
of  Osiris  in  Plutarch. 


152  THE   RUINS   OF    EMPIRES. 

X.    Religion  of  Zoroaster. 

"  Such  also  was  Zoroaster ;  who,  five  centuries  after  Moses, 
and  in  the  time  of  David,  revived  and  moralized  among  the 
Medes  and  Bactrians,  the  whole  Egyptian  system  of  Osiris 
and  Typhon,  under  the  names  Ormuzd  and  Ahrimanes  ;  who 
called  the  reign  of  summer,  virtue  and  good ;  the  reign  of 
winter,  sin  and  evil ;  the  renewal  of  nature  in  spring,  creation 
of  the  world  ;  the  conjunction  of  the  spheres  at  secular  periods, 
resurrection  ;  and  the  Tartarus  and  Elysium  of  the  astrologers 
and  geographers  were  named  future  life,  hell  and  paradise. 
In  a  word,  he  did  nothing  but  consecrate  the  existing  dreams 
of  the  mystical  system. 

XI.   Budsoism,  or  Religion  of  the  Samaneans. 

"  Such  again  are  the  propagators  of  the  dismal  doctrine  of 
the  Samaneans ;  who,  on  the  basis  of  the  Metempsychosis, 
have  erected  the  misanthropic  system  of  self-denial,  and  of 
privations  ;  who,  laying  it  down  as  a  principle  that  the  body 
is  only  a  prison  where  the  soul  lives  in  an  impure  confinement, 
that  life  is  only  a  dreamvan  illusion,  and  the  world  only  a  pas- 
sage to  another  country,  to  a  life  without  end,  placed  virtue 
and  perfection  in  absolute  immobility,  in  the  destruction  of 
all  sentiment,  in  the  abnegation  of  physical  organs,  in  the 
annihilation  of  all  our  being ;  whence  resulted  fasts,  penances, 
macerations,  solitude,  contemplations,  and  all  the  practices  of 
the  deplorable  delirium  of  the  Anchorites. 

XII.     Brahmism,  or  Indian  System. 

"  And  such,  too,  were  the  founders  of  the  Indian  System ; 
who,  refining  after  Zoroaster  on  the  two  principles  of  creation 
and  destruction,  introduced  an  intermediary  principle,  that  of 
preservation,  and  on  their  trinity  in  unity,  of  Brama,  Chiven, 
andVichenou,  accumulated  the  allegories  of  their  ancient  tra- 
ditions, and  the  alembicated  subtilities  of  their  metaphysics. 

"  These  are  the  materials  which  existed  in  a  scattered  state 
for  many  centuries  in  Asia  ;  when  a  fortuitous  concourse  of 
events  and  circumstances,  on  the  borders  of  the  Euphrates 
and  the  Mediterranean,  served  to  form  them  into  new  com- 
binations. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  153 

XIII.  Christianity,  or  the  Allegorical  Worship  of  the  Sun, 
under  the  cabalistical  names  of  Chrish-ent  or  Christ,  and 
Ye-sus  or  Jesus. 

"  In  constituting  a  separate  nation,  Moses  strove  in  vain  to 
defend  it  against  the  invasion  of  foreign  ideas.  An  invisible 
inclination,  founded  on  the  affinity  of  their  origin,  had  con- 
stantly brought  back  the  Hebrews  towards  the  worship  of 
the  neighboring  nations  ;  and  the  commercial  and  political 
relations  which  necessarily  existed  between  them,  strength- 
ened this  propensity  from  day  to  day.  As  long  as  the  con- 
stitution of  the  state  remained  entire,  the  coercive  force  of  the 
government  and  the  laws  opposed  these  innovations,  and 
retarded  their  progress  ;  nevertheless  the  high  places  were 
full  of  idols  ;  and  the  god  Sun  had  his  chariot  and  horses 
painted  in  the  palaces  of  the  kings,  and  even  in  the  temples  of 
Yahouh ;  but  when  the  conquests  of  the  sultans  of  Nineveh 
and  Babylon  had  dissolved  the  bands  of  civil  power,  the 
people,  left  to  themselves  and  solicited  by  their  conquerors, 
restrained  no  longer  their  inclination  for  profane  opinions, 
and  they  were  publicly  established  in  Judea.  First,  the  As- 
syrian colonies,  which  came  and  occupied  the  lands  of  the 
tribes,  filled  the  kingdom  of  Samaria  with  dogmas  of  the 
Magi,  which  very  soon  penetrated  into  the  kingdom  of  Judea. 
Afterwards,  Jerusalem  being  subjugated,  the  Egyptians,  the 
Syrians,  the  Arabs,  entering  this  defenceless  country,  intro- 
duced their  opinions  ;  and  the  religion  of  Moses  was  doubly 
mutilated.  Besides  the  priests  and  great  men,  being  trans- 
ported to  Babylon  and  educated  in  the  sciences  of  the  Chal- 
deans, imbibed,  during  a  residence  of  seventy  years,  the 
whole  of  their  theology ;  and  from  that  moment  the  dogmas 
of  the  hostile  Genius  (Satan),  the  archangel  Michael,*  the 
ancient  of  days  (Ormuzd),  the  rebel  angels,  the  battles  in 
heaven,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the  resurrection,  all 

*"The  names  of  the  angels  and  of  the  months,  such  as  Gabriel,  Michael,  Yar, 
Nisan,  etc.,  came  from  Babylon  with  the  Jews  :"  says  expressly  the  Talmud  of 
Jerusalem.  See  Beausob.  Hist,  du  Manich.  Vol.  II,  p.  624,  where  he  proves  that 
the  saints  of  the  Almanac  are  an  imitation  of  the  365  angels  of  the  Persians  ;  and 
Jamblicus  in  his  Egyptian  Mysteries,  sect.  2,  c.  3,  speaks  of  angels,  archangels, 
seraphims,  etc.,  like  a  true  Christian. 


154  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

unknown  to  Moses,  or  rejected  by  his  total  silence  respecting 
them,  were  introduced  and  naturalized  among  the  Jews. 

"  The  emigrants  returned  to  their  country  with  these  ideas  ; 
and  their  innovation  at  first  excited  disputes  between  their 
partisans  the  Pharisees,  and  their  opponents  the  Saducees, 
who  maintained  the  ancient  national  worship  ;  but  the  for- 
mer, aided  by  the  propensities  of  the  people  and  their  habits 
already  contracted,  and  supported  by  the  Persians,  their  deliv- 
erers and  masters,  gained  the  ascendant  over  the  latter  ;  and 
the  sons  of  Moses  consecrated  the  theology  of  Zoroaster.* 

"  A  fortuitous  analogy  between  two  leading  ideas  was  highly 
favorable  to  this  coalition,  and  became  the  basis  of  a  last 
system,  not  less  surprising  in  the  fortune  it  has  had  in  the 
world,  than  in  the  causes  of  its  formation. 

"  After  the  Assyrians  had  destroyed  the  kingdom  of  Sama- 
ria, some  judicious  men  foresaw  the  same  destiny  for  Jerusa- 
lem, which  they  did  not  fail  to  predict  and  publish  ;  and  their 
predictions  had  the  particular  turn  of  being  terminated  by 
prayers  for  a  reestablishment  and  regeneration,  uttered  in  the 
form  of  prophecies.  The  Hierophants,  in  their  enthusiasm, 
had  painted  a  king  as  a  deliverer,  who  was  to  reestablish  the 
nation  in  its  ancient  glory  ;  the  Hebrews  were  to  become  once 
more  a  powerful,  a  conquering  nation,  and  Jerusalem  the  cap- 
ital of  an  empire  extended  over  the  whole  earth. 

"  Events  having  realized  the  first  part  of  these  predictions, 
the  ruin  of  Jerusalem,  the  people  adhered  to  the  second  with  a 
firmness  of  belief  in  proportion  to  their  misfortunes  ;  and  the 
afflicted  Jews  expected,  with  the  impatience  of  want  and  de- 
sire, this  victorious  king  and  deliverer,  who  was  to  come  and 
save  the  nation  of  Moses,  and  restore  the  empire  of  David. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  sacred  and  mythological  traditions 
of  preceding  times  had  spread  through  all  Asia  a  dogma  per- 
fectly analogous.  The  cry  there  was  a  great  mediator,  a  final 
judge,  a  future  saviour,  a  king,  god,  conqueror  and  legislator, 

*  "  The  whole  philosophy  of  the  gymnosophists,"  says  Diogenes  Laertius  on  the 
authority  of  an  ancient  writer,  "  is  derived  from  that  of  the  Magi,  and  many  assert 
that  of  the  Jews  to  have  the  same  origin."  Lib.  i.  c.  9.  Megasthenes,  an  historian 
of  repute  in  the  days  of  Seleucus  Nicanor,  and  who  wrote  particularly  upon 
India,  speaking  of  the  philosophy  of  the  ancients  respecting  natural  things,  puts 
the  Brachmans  and  the  Jews  precisely  on  the  same  footing. 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  155 

who  was  to  restore  the  golden  age  upon  earth,*  to  deliver  it 
from  the  dominion  of  evil,  and  restore  men  to  the  empire  of 
good,  peace,  and  happiness.  The  people  seized  and  cherished 
these  ideas  with  so  much  the  more  avidity,  as  they  found  in 
them  a  consolation  under  that  deplorable  state  of  suffering 
into  which  they  had  been  plunged  by  the  devastations  of 
successive  conquests,  and  the  barbarous  despotism  of  their 
governments.  This  conformity  between  the  oracles  of  differ- 
ent nations,  and  those  of  the  prophets,  excited  the  attention 
of  the  Jews  ;  and  doubtless  the  prophets  had  the  art  to  com- 
pose their  descriptions  after  the  style  and  genius  of  the  sacred 
books  employed  in  the  Pagan  mysteries.  There  was  there- 
fore a  general  expectation  in  Judea  of  a  great  ambassador,  a 
final  Saviour ;  when  a  singular  circumstance  determined  the 
epoch  of  his  coming. 

"  It  is  found  in  the  sacred  books  of  the  Persians  and  Chal- 
deans, that  the  world,  composed  of  a  total  revolution  of  twelve 
thousand,  was  divided  into  two  partial  revolutions  ;  one  of 
which,  the  age  and  reign  of  good,  terminated  in  six  thousand  ; 
the  other,  the  age  and  reign  of  evil,  was  to  terminate  in  six 
thousand  more. 

"  By  these  records,  the  first  authors  had  understood  the 
annual  revolution  of  the  great  celestial  orb  called  the  world, 
(a  revolution  composed  of  twelve  months  or  signs,  divided 
each  into  a  thousand  parts),  and  the  two  systematic  periods, 
of  winter  and  summer,  composed  each  of  six  thousand. 
These  expressions,  wholly  equivocal  and  badly  explained, 
having  received  an  absolute  and  moral,  instead  of  a  physical 
and  astrological  sense,  it  happened  that  the  annual  world  was 
taken  for  the  secular  world,  the  thousand  of  the  zodiacal 
divisions,  for  a  thousand  of  years  ;  and  supposing,  from  the 
state  of  things,  that  they  lived  in  the  age  of  evil,  they  inferred 
that  it  would  end  with  the  six  thousand  pretended  years.f 

*  This  is  the  reason  of  the  application  of  the  many  Pagan  oracles  to  Jesus,  and 
particularly  the  fourth  eclogue  of  Virgil,  and  the  Sybilline  verses  so  celebrated 
among  the  ancients. 

t  We  have  already  seen  this  tradition  current  among  the  Tuscans ;  it  was  dis- 
seminated through  most  nations,  and  shows  us  what  we  ought  to  think  of  all  the 
pretended  creations  and  terminations  of  the  world,  which  are  merely  the  begin- 
nings and  endings  of  astronomical  periods  invented  by  astrologers.  That  of  the 
year  or  solar  revolution,  being  the  most  simple  and  perceptible,  served  as  a  model 


156  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

"  Now,  according  to  calculations  admitted  by  the  Jews,  they 
began  to  reckon  near  six  thousand  years  since  the  supposed 
creation  of  the  world.*  This  coincidence  caused  a  fermenta- 

to  the  rest,  and  its  comparison  gave  rise  to  the  most  whimsical  ideas.  Of  this 
description  is  the  idea  of  the  four  ages  of  the  world  among  the  Indians.  Origin- 
ally these  four  ages  were  merely  the  four  seasons ;  and  as  each  season  was  under 
the  supposed  influence  of  a  planet,  it  bore  the  name  of  the  metal  appropriated  to 
that  planet ;  thus  spring  was  the  age  of  the  sun,  or  of  gold  ;  summer  the  age  of  the 
moon,  or  of  silver  ;  autumn  the  age  of  Venus,  or  of  brass  ;  and  winter  the  age  of 
Mars,  or  of  iron.  Afterwards  when  astronomers  invented  the  great  year  of  25  and 
36  thousand  common  years,  which  had  for  its  object  the  bringing  back  all  the  stars 
to  one  point  of  departure  and  a  general  conjunction,  the  ambiguity  of  the  terms  in- 
troduced a  similar  ambiguity  of  ideas ;  and  the  myriads  of  celestial  signs  and 
periods  of  duration  which  were  thus  measured  were  easily  converted  into  so 
many  revolutions  of  the  sun.  Thus  the  different  periods  of  creation  which  have 
been  so  great  a  source  of  difficulty  and  misapprehension  to  curious  enquirers, 
were  in  reality  nothing  more  than  hypothetical  calculations  of  astronomical  peri- 
ods. In  the  same  manner  the  creation  of  the  world  has  been  attributed  to  differ- 
ent seasons  of  the  year,  just  as  these  different  seasons  have  served  for  the  fictitious 
period  of  these  conjunctions;  and  of  consequence  has  been  adopted  by  different 
nations  for  the  commencement  of  an  ordinary  year.  Among  the  Egyptians  this 
period  fell  upon  the  summer  solstice,  which  was  the  commencement  of  their  year  ; 
and  the  departure  of  the  spheres,  according  to  their  conjectures,  fell  in  like  manner 
upon  the  period  when  the  sun  enters  Cancer.  Among  the  Persians  the  year  com- 
menced at  first  in  the  spring,  or  when  the  sun  enters  Aries ;  and  from  thence  the 
first  Christians  were  led  to  suppose  that  God  created  the  world  in  the  spring :  this 
opinion  is  also  favored  by  the  book  of  Genesis  ;  and  it  is  farther  remarkable, 
that  the  world  is  not  there  said  to  be  created  by  the  God  of  Moses  (  Yahouh ),  but 
by  the  Elohim  or  gods  in  the  plural,  that  is  by  the  angels  or  genii,  for  so  the  word 
constantly  means  in  the  Hebrew  books.  If  we  farther  observe  that  the  root  of 
the  word  Elohim  signifies  strong  or  powerful,  and  that  the  Egyptians  called  their 
decans  strong  and  powerful  leaders,  attributing  to  them  the  creation  of  the  world, 
we  shall  presently  perceive  that  the  book  of  Genesis  affirms  neither  more  nor  less 
than  that  the  world  was  created  by  the  decans,  by  those  very  genii  whom,  accord- 
ing to  Sanchoniathon,  Mercury  excited  against  Saturn,  and  who  were  called 
Elokim.  It  may  be  farther  asked  why  the  plural  substantive  Elohim  is  made  to 
agree  with  the  singular  verb  bar  a  ( the  Elohim  creates ).  The  reason  is  that  after 
the  Babylonish.captivity  the  unity  of  the  Supreme  Being  was  the  prevailing  opin- 
ion of  the  Jews;  it  was  therefore  thought  proper  to  introduce  a  pious  solecism 
in  language,  which  it  is  evident  had  no  existence  before  Moses ;  thus  in  the  names 
of  the  children  of  Jacob  many  of  them  are  compounded  of  a  plural  verb,  to  which 
Elohim  is  the  nominative  case  understood,  as  Raouben  (  Reuben  ),  they  have 
looked  upon  me,  and  Samaonni  (Sfmeon),  they  have  granted  me  my  prayer;  to 
wit,  the  Elohim.  The  reason  of  this  etymology  is  to  be  found  in  the  religious 
creeds  of  the  wives  of  Jacob,  whose  gods  were  the  taraphim  of  Laban,  that  is,  the 
angels  of  the  Persians,  and  Egyptian  decans. 

*  According  to  the  computation  of  the  Seventy,  the  period  elapsed  consisted 
of  about  5,600  years,  and  this  computation  was  principally  followed.  It  is  well 
known  how  much,  in  the  first  ages  of  the  church,  this  opinion  of  the  end  of  the 
world  agitated  the  minds  of  men.  In  the  sequel,  the  general  councils  encouraged 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  157 

tion  in  the  public  mind.  Nothing  was  thought  of  but  the 
approaching  end.  They  consulted  the  hierophants  and  the 
mystical  books,  which  differed  as  to  the  term  ;  the  great 
mediator,  the  final  judge,  was  expected  and  desired,  to  put  an 
end  to  so  many  calamities.  This  being  was  so  much  spoken 
of,  that  some  person  finally  was  said  to  have  seen  him  ;  and  a 
first  rumor  of  this  sort  was  sufficient  to  establish  a  general 
certainty.  Popular  report  became  an  established  fact:  the 
imaginary  being  was  realized ;  and  all  the  circumstances  of 
mythological  tradition,  being  assembled  around  this  phantom, 
produced  a  regular  history,  of  which  it  was  no  longer  permit- 
ted to  doubt. 

"  These  mythological  traditions  recounted  that,  in  the  be- 
ginning, a  woman  and  a  man  had  by  their  fall  introduced  sin 
and  misery  into  the  world.  (Consult  plate  of  the  Astrological 
Heaven  of  the  Ancients?) 

"  By  this  was  denoted  the  astronomical  fact,  that  the  celes- 
tial virgin  and  the  herdsman  (Bootes),  by  setting  heliacally 
at  the  autumnal  equinox,  delivered  the  world  to  the  wintry 
constellations,  and  seemed,  on  falling  below  the  horizon,  to 
introduce  into  the  world  the  genius  of  evil,  Ahrimanes,  rep- 
resented by  the  constellation  of  the  Serpent.* 

These  traditions  related  that  the  woman  had  decoyed  and 
seduced  the  man.f 

"  And  in  fact,  the  virgin,  setting  first,  seems  to  draw  the 
herdsman  after  her. 

"  That  the  woman  tempted  him  by  offering  him  fruit  fair  to 
the  sight  and  good  to  eat,  which  gave  the  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil. 

"  And  in  fact,  the  Virgin  holds  in  her  hand  a  branch  of 

by  finding  that  the  general  conflagration  did  not  come,  pronounced  the  expecta- 
tion that  prevailed  heretical,  and  its  believers  were  called  Millenarians  ;  a  circum- 
stance curious  enough,  since  it  is  evident  from  the  history  of  the  gospels  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  a  Millenarian,  and  of  consequence  a  heretic. 

*  "  The  Persians,''  says  Chardin,  "  call  the  constellation  of  the  serpent  Ophi- 
ucus,  serpent  of  Eve :  and  this  serpent  Ophiucus  or  Ophioneus  plays  a  similar 
part  in  the  theology  of  the  Phoanicians,"  for  Pherecydes,  their  disciple  and  the 
master  of  Pythagoras,  said  "that  Ophioneus  Serpentinus  had  been  chief  of  the 
rebels  against  Jupiter."  See  Mars.  Ficin.  Apol.  Socrat.  p.  m.  797,  col.  2.  I  shall 
add  that  ephah  (with  ain)  signifies  in  Hebrew,  serpent. 

t  In  a  physical  sense  to  seduce,  seducere,  means  only  to  attract,  to  draw  after  us. 


158  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

fruit,  which  she  seems  to  offer  to  the  Herdsman ;  and  the 
branch,  emblem  of  autumn,  placed  in  the  picture  of  Mithra* 
between  winter  and  summer,  seems  to  open  the  door  and 
give  knowledge,  the  key  of  good  and  evil. 

"  That  this  couple  had  been  driven  from  the  celestial  garden, 
and  that  a  cherub  with  a  flaming  sword  had  been  placed  at  the 
gate  to  guard  it. 

"  And  in  fact,  when  the  virgin  and  the  herdsman  fall  beneath 
the  horizon,  Perseus  rises  on  the  other  side  ;  f  and  this  Genius, 
with  a  sword  in  his  hand,  seems  to  drive  them  from  the  sum- 
mer heaven,  the  garden  and  dominion  of  fruits  and  flowers. 

"  That  of  this  virgin  should  be  born,  spring  up,  an  offspring, 
a  child,  who  should  bruise  the  head  of  the  serpent,  and  deliver 
the  world  from  sin. 

"  This  denotes  the  son,  which,  at  the  moment  of  the  winter 
solstice,  precisely  when  the  Persian  Magi  drew  the  horoscope 
of  the  new  year,  was  placed  on  the  bosom  of  the  Virgin,  rising 
heliacally  in  the  eastern  horizon ;  on  this  account  he  was 
figured  in  their  astrological  pictures  under  the  form  of  a  child 
suckled  by  a  chaste  virgin,!  and  became  afterwards,  at  the 

*See  this  picture  in  Hyde,  page  HI,  edition  of  1760. 

t  Rather  the  head  of  Medusa  ;  that  head  of  a  woman  once  so  beautiful,  which 
Perseus  cut  off  and  which  he  holds  in  his  hand,  is  only  that  of  the  virgin,  whose 
head  sinks  below  the  horizon  at  the  very  moment  that  Perseus  rises ;  and  the 
serpents  which  surround  it  are  Orphiucus  and  the  Polar  Dragon,  who  then 
occupy  the  zenith.  This  shows  us  in  what  manner  the  ancients  composed  all 
their  figures  and  fables.  They  took  such  constellations  as  they  found  at  the  same 
time  on  the  circle  of  the  horizon,  and  collecting  the  different  parts,  they  formed 
groups  which  served  them  as  an  almanac  in  hieroglyphic  characters.  Such  is 
the  secret  of  all  their  pictures,  and  the  solution  of  all  their  mythological  monsters. 
The  virgin  is  also  Andromeda,  delivered  by  Perseus  from  the  whale  that  pursues 
her  (pro-sequitor). 

t  Such  was  the  picture  of  the  Persian  sphere,  cited  by  Aben  Ezra  in  the  Ccelum 
Poeticum  of  Blaeu,  p.  71.  "  The  picture  of  the  first  decan  of  the  Virgin,"  says 
that  writer,  "  represents  a  beautiful  virgin  with  flowing  hair ;  sitting  in  a  chair, 
with  two  ears  of  corn  in  her  hand,  and  suckling  an  infant,  called  Jesus  by  some 
nations,  and  Christ  in  Greek." 

In  the  library  of  the  king  of  France  is  a  manuscript  in  Arabic,  marked  1165,  in 
which  is  a  picture  of  the  twelve  signs  ;  and  that  of  the  Virgin  represents  a  young 
woman  with  an  infant  by  her  side :  the  whole  scene  indeed  of  the  birth  of  Jesus  is 
to  be  found  in  the  adjacent  part  of  the  heavens.  The  stable  is  the  constellation 
of  the  charioteer  and  the  goat,  formerly  Capricorn  :  a  constellation  called  proistpe 
?ovis  Heniochi,  stable  of  fou  ;  and  the  word  Ion  is  found  in  the  name  lou-seph 
(Joseph  ),  At  no  great  distance  is  the  ass  of  Typhon  ( the  great  she-bear),  and 
the  ox  or  bull,  the  ancient  attendants  of  the  manger.  Peter  the  porter,  is  Janus 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  159 

vernal  equinox,  the  ram,  or  the  lamb,  triumphant  over  the 
constellation  of  the  Serpent,  which  disappeared  from  the  skies. 

"  That,  in  his  infancy,  this  restorer  of  divine  and  celestial 
nature  would  live  abased,  humble,  obscure  and  indigent. 

"  And  this,  because  the  winter  sun  is  abased  below  the 
horizon  ;  and  that  this  first  period  of  his  four  ages  or  seasons, 
is  a  time  of  obscurity,  scarcity,  fasting,  and  want. 

"  That,  being  put  to  death  by  the  wicked,  he  had  risen  glori- 
ously ;  that  he  had  rea scended  from  hell  to  heaven,  where  he 
would  reign  forever. 

"  This  is  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  the  sun  ;  who,  finishing  his 
career  at  the  winter  solstice,  when  Typhon  and  the  rebel 
angels  gain  the  dominion,  seems  to  be  put  to  death  by  them  ; 
but  who  soon  after  is  born  again,  and  rises*  into  the  vault  of 
heaven,  where  he  reigns. 

"  Finally,  these  traditions  went  so  far  as  to  mention  even  his 
astrological  and  mythological  names,  and  inform  us  that  he 
was  called  sometimes  Chris,  that  is  to  say,  preserver,!  and 

with  his  keys  and  bald  forehead:  the  twelve  apostles  are  the  genii  of  the  twelve 
months,  etc.  This  Virgin  has  acted  very  different  parts  in  the  various  systems 
of  mythology :  she  has  been  the  Isis  of  the  Egyptians,  who  said  of  her  in  one  of 
their  inscriptions  cited  by  Julian,  the  fruit  I  have  brought  forth  is  the  sun.  The 
majority  of  traits  drawn  by  Plutarch  apply  to  her,  in  the  same  manner  as  those 
of  Osiris  apply  to  Bootes:  also  the  seven  principal  stars  of  the  she-bear,  called 
David's  chariot,  were  called  the  chariot  of  Osiris  (  See  Kirker )  /  and  the  crown 
that  is  situated  behind,  formed  of  ivy,  was  called  Chen-Osiris,  the  tree  of  Osiris. 
The  Virgin  has  likewise  been  Ceres,  whose  mysteries  were  the  same  with  those 
of  Isis  and  Mithra;  she  has  been  the  Diana  of  the  Ephesians;  the  great  goddess 
of  Syria,  Cybele,  drawn  by  lions;  Minerva,  the  mother  of  Bacchus;  Astraea,  a 
chaste  virgin  taken  up  into  heaven  at  the  end  of  a  golden  age ;  Themis,  at  whose 
feet  is  the  balance  that  was  put  in  her  hands ;  the  Sybil  of  Virgil,  who  descends 
into  hell,  or  sinks  below  the  hemisphere  with  a  branch  in  her  hand,  etc. 

*Resurgere,  to  rise  a  second  time,  cannot  signify  to  return  to  life,  but  in  a 
metaphorical  sense  ;  but  we  see  continually  mistakes  of  this  kind  result  from  the 
ambiguous  meaning  of  the  words  made  use  of  in  ancient  tradition. 

tThe  Greeks  used  to  express  by  X,  or  Spanish  iota,  the  aspirated  ha  of  the 
Orientals,  who  said  haris.  In  Hebrew  heres  signifies  the  sun,  but  in  Arabic  the 
meaning  of  the  radical  word  is,  to  guard,  to  preserve,  and  of  haris,  guardian, 
preserver.  It  is  the  proper  epithet  of  Vichenou,  which  demonstrates  at  once  the 
identity  of  the  Indian  and  Christian  Trinities,  and  their  common  origin.  It  is 
manifestly  but  one  system,  which,  divided  into  two  branches,  one  extending  to 
the  east,  and  the  other  to  the  west,  assumed  two  different  forms  :  Its  principal 
trunk  is  the  Pythagorean  system  of  the  soul  of  the  world,  or  lou-piter.  The  epi- 
thet filer,  or  father,  having  been  applied  to  the  demi-ourgos  of  Plato,  gave  rise 
to  an  ambiguity  which  caused  an  enquiry  to  be  made  respecting  the  son  of  this  » 
father.  In  the  opinion  of  the  philosophers  the  son  was  understanding,  JVous  and 


l6o  THE  RUINS  OF    EMPIRES. 

from  that,  ye  Indians,  you  have  made  your  god  Chrish-en  or 
Chrish-na ;  and,  ye  Greek  and  Western  Christians,  your 
Chris-tos,  son  of  Mary,  is  the  same ;  sometimes  he  is  called 
Yes,  by  the  union  of  three  letters,  which  by  their  numerical 
value  form  the  number1  608,  one  of  the  solar  periods.*  And 
this,  Europeans,  is  the  name  which,  with  the  Latin  termina- 
tion, is  become  your  Yes-us  or  Jesus,  the  ancient  and  cabal- 
istic name  attributed  to  young  Bacchus,  the  clandestine  son 
(nocturnal)  of  the  Virgin  Minerva,  who,  in  the  history  of  his 
whole  life,  and  even  of  his  death,  brings  to  mind  the  history 
of  the  god  of  the  Christians,  that  is,  of  the  star  of  day,  of 
which  they  are  each  of  them  the  emblems.  " 

Here  a  great  murmur  having  arisen  among  all  the  Christian 
groups,  the  Lamas,  the  Mussulmans  and  the  Indians  called 
them  to  order,  and  the  orator  went  on  to  finish  his  discourse : 

"  You  know  at  present,"  said  he,  "  how  the  rest  of  this  sys- 
tem was  composed  in  the  chaos  and  anarchy  of  the  three  first 
centuries  ;  what  a  multitude  of  singular  opinions  divided  the 
minds  of  men,  and  armed  them  with  an  enthusiasm  and  a 
reciprocal  obstinacy  ;  because,  being  equally  founded  on  an- 
cient tradition,  they  were  equally  sacred.  You  know  how 
the  government,  after  three  centuries,  having  embraced  one 
of  these  sects,  made  it  the  orthodox,  that  is  to  say,  the  pre- 

Logos,  from  which  the  Latins  made  their  Verbum.  And  thus  we  clearly  perceive 
the  origin  of  the  eternal  father  and  of  the  Verbum  his  son,  proceeding  from  him 
(Metis  Ex  Deo  nata,  says  Macrobius) :  the  cenima  or  spiritus  tnundi,  was  the 
Holy  Ghost;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  Manes,  Pasilides,  Valentinius,  and 
other  pretended  heretics  of  the  first  ages,  who  traced  things  to  their  source,  said, 
that  God  the  Father  was  the  supreme  inaccessible  light  (that  of  the  heaven,  the 
primum  mobile,  or  the  aplanes)  ;  the  Son  the  secondary  light  resident  in  the  sun, 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  the  atmosphere  of  the  earth  (See  Beausob.  vol.  n,  p.  586): 
hence,  among  the  Syrians,  the  representation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  by  a  dove,  the 
bird  of  Venus  Urania,  that  is  of  the  air.  The  Syrians  (says  Nigidius  de  Germaico) 
assert  that  a  dove  sat  for  a  certain  number  of  days  on  the  egg  of  a  fish,  and  that 
from  this  incubation  Venus  was  born :  Sextus  Empiricus  also  observes  (Inst. 
Pyrrh.  lib.  3,  c.  23)  that  the  Syrians  abstain  from  eating  doves  ;  which  intimates  to 
us  a  period  commencing  in  the  sign  Pisces,  in  the  winter  solstice.  We  may  far- 
ther observe,  that  if  Chris  comes  from  Harisch  by  a  chin,  it  will  signify  artificer, 
an  epithet  belonging  to  the  sun.  These  variations,  which  must  have  embarrassed 
the  ancients,  prove  it  to  be  the  real  type  of  Jesus,  as  had  been  already  remarked 
in  the  time  of  Tertullian.  "  Many,  says  this  writer,  suppose  with  greater  proba- 
bility that  the  sun  is  our  God,  and  they  refer  us  to  the  religion  of  the  Persians." 
Apologet.  c.  16. 
*  See  a  curious  ode  to  the  sun,  by  \Iartianus  Capella,  translated  by  Gebelin. 


THE   RUINS   OF    EMPIRES.  l6l 

dominant  religion,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  rest ;  which,  being 
less  in  number,  became  heretics  ;  you  know  how  and  by  what 
means  of  violence  and  seduction  this  religion  was  propagated, 
extended,  divided,  and  enfeebled;  how,  six  hundred  years 
after  the  Christian  innovation,  another  system  was  formed 
from  it  and  from  that  of  the  Jews ;  and  how  Mahomet  found 
the  means  of  composing  a  political  arid  theological  empire  at 
the  expense  of  those  of  Moses  and  the  vicars  of  Jesus. 

"  Now,  if  you  take  a  review  of  the  whole  history  of  the 
spirit  of  all  religion,  you  will  see  that  in  its  origin  it  has  had 
no  other  author  than  the  sensations  and  wants  of  man  ;  that 
the  idea  of  God  has  had  no  other  type  and  model  than  those 
of  physical  powers,  material  beings,  producing  either  good  or 
evil,  by  impressions  of  pleasure  or  pain  on  sensitive  beings  ; 
that  in  the  formation  of  all  these  systems  the  spirit  of  religion 
has  always  followed  the  same  course,  and  been  uniform  in  its 
proceedings  ;  that  in  all  of  them  the  dogma  has  never  failed 
to  represent,  under  the  name  of  gods,  the  operations  of  na- 
ture, and  passions  and  prejudices  of  men  ;  that  the  moral  of 
them  all  has  had  for  its  object  the  desire  of  happiness  and  the 
aversion  to  pain  ;  but  that  the  people,  and  the  greater  part  of 
legislators,  not  knowing  the  route  to  be  pursued,  have  formed 
false,  and  therefore  discordant,  ideas  of  virtue  and  vice,  of 
good  and  evil,  that  is  to  say,  of  what  renders  man  happy  or 
miserable  ;  that  in  every  instance,  the  means  and  the  causes 
of  propagating  and  establishing  systems  have  exhibited  the 
same  scenes  of  passion  and  the  same  events  ;  everywhere 
disputes  about  words,  pretexts  for  zeal,  revolutions  and  wars 
excited  by  the  ambition  of  princes,  the  knavery  of  apostles, 
the  credulity  of  proselytes,  the  ignorance  of  the  vulgar,  the 
exclusive  cupidity  and  intolerant  arrogance  of  all.  Indeed, 
you  will  see  that  the  whole  history  of  the  spirit  of  religion  is 
only  the  history  of  the  errors  of  the  human  mind,  which, 
placed  in  a  world  that  it  does  not  comprehend,  endeavors 
nevertheless  to  solve  the  enigma  ;  and  which,  beholding  with 
astonishment  this  mysterious  and  visible  prodigy,  imagines 
causes,  supposes  reasons,  builds  systems  ;  then,  finding  one 
defective,  destroys  it  for  another  not  less  so  ;  hates  the  error 
that  it  abandons,  misconceives  the  one  that  it  embraces, 
rejects  the  truth  that  it  is  seeking,  composes  chimeras  of  dis- 


162  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

cordant  beings  ;  and  thus,  while  always  dreaming  of  wisdom 
and  happiness,  wanders  blindly  in  a  labyrinth  of  illusion  and 
doubt." 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

ALL  RELIGIONS  HAVE  THE  SAME  OBJECT. 

rT**HUS  spoke  the  orator  in  the  name  of  those  men  who  hafl 
studied  the  origin  and  succession  of  religious  ideas. 

The  theologians  of  various  systems,  reasoning  on  this 
discourse :  "  It  is  an  impious  representation,"  said  some, 
"  whose  tendency  is  nothing  less  than  to  overturn  all  belief, 
to  destroy  subordination  in  the  minds  of  men,  and  annihilate 
our  ministry  and  power."  "  It  is  a  romance,"  said  others,  "  a 
tissue  of  conjectures,  composed  with  art,  but  without  founda- 
tion." The  moderate  and  prudent  men  added :  "  Supposing 
all  this  to  be  true,  why  reveal  these  mysteries  ?  Doubtless 
our  opinions  are  full  of  errors ;  but  these  errors  are  a  neces- 
sary restraint  on  the  multitude.  The  world  has  gone  thus  for 
two  thousand  years ;  why  change  it  now  ?  " 

A  murmur  of  disapprobation,  which  never  fails  to  rise  at 
every  innovation,  now  began  to  increase  ;  when  a  numerous 
group  of  the  common  classes  of  people,  and  of  untaught  men 
of  all  countries  and  of  every  nation,  without  prophets,  without 
doctors,  and  without  doctrine,  advancing  in  the  circle,  drew 
the  attention  of  the  whole  assembly  ;  and  one  of  them,  in  the 
name  of  all,  thus  addressed  the  multitude : 

"  Mediators  and  arbiters  of  nations  !  the  strange  relations 
which  have  occupied  the  present  debate  were  unknown  to  us 
until  this  day.  Our  understanding,  confounded  and  amazed 
at  so  many  statements,  some  of  them  learned,  others  absurd 
and  all  incomprehensible,  remains  in  uncertainty  and  doubt. 
One  only  reflection  has  struck  us  :  on  reviewing  so  many 
prodigious  facts,  so  many  contradictory  assertions,  we  ask 
ourselves :  What  are  all  these  discussions  to  us  ?  What  need 


THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES.  163 

have  we  of  knowing  what  passed  five  or  six  thousand  years 
ago,  in  countries  we  never  heard  of,  and  among  men  who 
will  ever  be  unknown  to  us  ?  True  or  false,  what  interest 
have  we  in  knowing  whether  the  world  has  existed  six  thou- 
sand, or  twenty-five  thousand  years  ?  Whether  it  was  made 
of  nothing,  or  of  something  ;  by  itself,  or  by  a  maker,  who 
in  his  turn  would  require  another  maker  ?  What !  we  are  not 
sure  of  what  happens  near  us,  and  shall  we  answer  for  what 
happens  in  the  sun,  in  the  moon,  or  in  imaginary  regions  of 
space  ?  We  have  forgotten  our  own  infancy.  jmd_shall_w_e 
know  the  jnfancy  of  the  world?  And  who  will  attest  what 
no  one  has  seen  ?  who  will  certify  what  no  man  com- 
prehends ? 

"  Besides,  what  addition  or  diminution  will  it  make  to  our 
existence,  to  answer  yes  or  no  to  all  these  chimeras  ?  Hith- 
erto neither  our  fathers  nor  ourselves  have  had  the  least 
knowledge  or  notion  of  them,  and  we  do  not  perceive  that  we 
have  had  on  this  account  either  more  or  less  of  the  sun,  more 
or  less  of  subsistence,  more  or  less  of  good  or  of  evil. 

"  If  the  knowledge  of  these  things  is  so  necessary,  why 
have  we  lived  as  well  without  it  as  those  who  have  taken  so 
much  trouble  concerning  it  ?  If  this  knowledge  is  superfluous, 
why  should  we  burden  ourselves  with  it  to-day  ?  " 

Then  addressing  himself  to  the  doctors  and  theologians : 

"  What !  "  said  he,  "  is  it  necessary  that  we,  poor  and  igno- 
rant men,  whose  every  moment  is  scarcely  sufficient  for  the 
cares  of  life,  and  the  labors  of  which  you  take  the  profit, — is 
it  necessary  for  us  to  learn  the  numberless  histories  that  you 
have  recounted,  to  read  the  quantity  of  books  that  you  have 
cited,  and  to  study  the  various  languages  in  which  they  are 
composed !  A  thousand  years  of  life  would  not  suffice  —  " 

"  It  is  not  necessary,"  replied  the  doctors,  "  that  you  should 
acquire  all  this  science  ;  we  have  it  for  you  —  " 

"  But  even  you,"  replied  the  simple  men,  "  with  all  your 
science,  you  are  not  agreed ;  of  what  advantage,  then,  is  your 
science  ?  Besides,  how  can  you  answer  for  us  ?  If  the  faith 
of  one  man  is  applicable  to  many,  what  need  have  even  you 
to  believe  ?  your  fathers  may  have  believed  for  you ;  and  this 
would  be  reasonable,  since  they  have  seen  for  you. 

"  Farther,  what  is  believing,  if  believing  influences  no  ac- 


164  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

tion  ?    And  what  action  is  influenced  by  believing,  for  in- 
stance, that  the  world  is  or  is  not  eternal  ?  " 

"  The  latter  would  be  offensive  to  God,"  said  the  doctors. 

"  How  prove  you  that  ?  "  replied  the  simple  men. 

"  In  our  books,"  answered  the  doctors. 

"  We  do  not  understand  them,"  returned  the  simple  men. 

"  We  understand  them  for  you,"  said  the  doctors. 

"  That  is  the  difficulty,"  replied  the  simple  men.  "  By  what 
right  do  you  constitute  yourselves  mediators  between  God 
and  us  ?  " 

"  By  his  orders,"  said  the  doctors. 

"  Where  is  the  proof  of  these  orders  ?  "  said  the  simple  men. 

"  In  our  books,"  said  the  doctors. 

"  We  understand  them  not,"  said  the  simple  men ;  "  and 
how  came  this  just  God  to  give  you  this  privilege  over  us  ? 
Why  did  this  common  father  oblige  us  to  believe  on  a  less 
degree  of  evidence  than  you  ?  He  has  spoken  to  you  ;  be  it 
so  ;  he  is  infallible,  and  deceives  you  not.  But  it  is  you  who 
speak  to  us !  And  who  shall  assure  us  that  you  are  not  in 
error  yourselves,  or  that  you  will  not  lead  us  into  error  ?  And 
if  we  should  be  deceived,  how  will  that  just  God  save  us  con- 
trary to  law,  or  condemn  us  on  a  law  which  we  have  not 
known  ?  " 

"  He  has  given  you  the  natural  law,"  said  the  doctors. 

"  And  what  is  the  natural  law  ?  "  replied  the  simple  men. 
"  If  that  law  is  sufficient,  why  has  he  given  any  other  ?  If  it  is 
not  sufficient,  why  did  he  make  it  imperfect  ?  " 

"  His  judgments  are  mysteries,"  said  the  doctors,  "  and  his 
justice  is  not  like  that  of  men." 

"If  his  justice,"  replied  the  simple  men,  "is  not  like  ours,' 
by  what  rule  are  we  to  judge  of  it  ?    And,  moreover,  why  all 
these  laws,  and  what  is  the  object  proposed  by  them  ?  " 

"  To  render  you  more  happy,"  replied  a  doctor,  "  by  render- 
ing you  better  and  more  virtuous.  It  is  to  teach  man  to  enjoy 
his  benefits,  and  not  injure  his  fellows,  that  God  has  mani- 
fested himself  by  so  many  oracles  and  prodigies." 

"  In  that  case,"  said  the  simple  men,  "there  is  no  necessity 
for  so  many  studies,  nor  of  such  a  variety  of  arguments  ;  only 
tell  us  which  is  the  religion  that  best  answers  the  end  which 
they  all  propose." 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  165 

Immediately,  on  this,  every  group,  extolling  its  own  moral- 
ity above  that  of  all  others,  there  arose  among  the  different 
sects  a  new  and  most  violent  dispute.  . 

"  It  is  we,"  said  the  Mussulmans,  "  who  possess  the  most 
excellent  morals,  who  teach  all  the  virtues  useful  to  men  and 
agreeable  to  God.  We  profess  justice,  disinterestedness,  res- 
ignation to  providence,  charity  to  our  brethren,  alms-giving, 
and  devotion  ;  we  torment  not  the  soul  with  superstitious 
fears ;  we  live  without  alarm,  and  die  without  remorse." 

"  How  dare  you  speak  of  morals,"  answered  the  Christian 
priests,  "  you,  whose  chief  lived  in  licentiousness  and  preached 
impurity  ?  You,  whose  first  precept  is  homicide  and  war  ? 
For  this  we  appeal  to  experience  :  for  these  twelve  hundred 
years  your  fanatical  zeal  has  not  ceased  to  spread  commotion 
and  carnage  among  the  nations.  If  Asia,  so  flourishing  in 
former  times,  is  now  languishing  in  barbarity  and  depopula- 
tion, it  is  in  your  doctrine  that  we  find  the  cause  ;  in  that  doc- 
trine, the  enemy  of  all  instruction,  which  sanctifies  ignorance, 
which  consecrates  the  most  absolute  despotism  in  the  gov- 
ernors, imposes  the  most  blind  and  passive  obedience  in  the 
people,  that  has  stupified  the  faculties  of  man,  and  brutalized 
the  nations. 

"  It  is  not  so  with  our  sublime  and  celestial  morals  ;  it  was 
they  which  raised  the  world  from  its  primitive  barbarity,  from 
the  senseless  and  cruel  superstitions  of  idolatry,  from  human 
sacrifices,*  from  the  shameful  orgies  of  pagan  mysteries  ;  they 
it  was  that  purified  manners,  proscribed  incest  and  adultery, 
polished  savage  nations,  banished  slavery,  and  introduced 
new  and  unknown  virtues,  charity  for  men,  their  equality  in 
the  sight  of  God,  forgiveness  and  forgetfulness  of  injuries,  the 
restraint  of  all  the  passions,  the  contempt  of  worldly  great- 
ness, a  life  completely  spiritual  and  completely  holy !  " 

"  We  admire,"  said  the  Mussulmans,  "  the  ease  with  which 
you  reconcile  that  evangelical  meekness,  of  which  you  are  so 
ostentatious,  with  the  injuries  and  outrages  with  which  you 

*Read  the  cold  declaration  of  Eusebius  (Prcep.  Evang.  lib.  i,  p.  u,),  who  pre- 
tends that,  since  the  coming  of  Christ,  there  have  been  neither  wars,  nor  tyrants, 
nor  cannibals,  nor  sodomites,  nor  persons  committing  incest,  nor  savages  destroy- 
ing their  parents,  etc.  When  we  read  these  fathers  of  the  church  we  are  astonish- 
ed at  their  insincerity  or  infatuation. 


166  THE  RUINS  OF    EMPIRES. 

are  constantly  galling  your  neighbors.  When  you  criminate 
so  severely  the  great  man  whom  we  revere,  we  might  fairly 
retort  on  the  conduct  of  him  whom  you  adore  ;  but  we  scorn 
such  advantages,  and  confining  ourselves  to  the  real  object  in 
question,  we  maintain  that  the  morals  of  your  gospel  have  by 
no  means  that  perfection  which  you  ascribe  to  them  ;  it  is  not 
true  that  they  have  introduced  into  the  world  new  and  un- 
known virtues  :  for  example,  the  equality  of  men  in  the  sight 
of  God,—  that  fraternity  and  that  benevolence  which  follow 
from  it,  were  formal  doctrines  of  the  sect  of  the  Hermatics  or 
Samaneans,*  from  whom  you  descend.  As  to  the  forgiveness 
of  injuries,  the  Pagans  themselves  had  taught  it ;  but  in  the 
extent  that  you  give  it,  far  from  being  a  virtue,  it  becomes  an 
immorality,  a  vice.  Your  so  much  boasted  precept  of  turning 
one  cheek  after  the  other,  is  not  only  contrary  to  every  sen- 
timent of  man,  but  is  opposed  to  all  ideas  of  justice.  It 
emboldens  the  wicked  by  impunity,  debases  the  virtuous  by 
servility,  delivers  up  the  world  to  despotism  and  tyranny,  and 
dissolves  all  society.  Such  is  the  true  spirit  of  your  doctrines. 
Your  gospels  in  their  precepts  and  their  parables,  never  rep- 
resent God  but  as  a  despot  without  any  rules  of  equity ;  a 
partial  father  treating  a  debauched  and  prodigal  son  with 
more  favor  than  his  respectful  and  virtuous  children  ;  a  capri- 
cious master,  who  gives  the  same  wages  to  workmen  who 
had  wrought  but  one  hour,  as  to  those  who  had  labored 
through  the  whole  day ;  one  who  prefers  the  last  comers  to 
the  first.  The  moral  is  everywhere  misanthropic  and  anti- 
social ;  it  disgusts  men  with  life  and  with  society ;  and  tends 
only  to  encourage  hermitism  and  celibacy. 

"  As  to  the  manner  in  which  you  have  practised  these 
morals,  we  appeal  in  our  turn  to  the  testimony  of  facts.  We 
ask  whether  it  is  this  evangelical  meekness  which  has  excited 
your  interminable  wars  between  your  sects,  your  atrocious 
persecutions  of  pretended  heretics,  your  crusades  against 
Arianism,  Manicheism,  Protestantism,  without  speaking  of 
your  crusades  against  us,  and  of  those  sacrilegious  associa- 
tions, still  subsisting,  of  men  who  take  an  oath  to  continue 

'The  equality  of  mankind  in  a  state  of  nature  and  in  the  eyes  of  God  was  one 
of  the  principal  tenets  of  the  Samaneans,  and  they  appear  to  be  the  only  ancients 
that  entertained  this  opinion. 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  167 

them  ?  *  We  ask  you  whether  it  be  gospel  charity  which  has 
made  you  exterminate  whole  nations  in  America,  to  annihi- 
late the,  empires  of  Mexico  and  Peru ;  which  makes  you 
continue  to  dispeople  Africa  and  sell  its  inhabitants  like 
cattle,  notwithstanding  your  abolition  of  slavery  ;  which 
makes  you  ravage  India  and  usurp  its  dominions  ;  and 
whether  it  be  the  same  charity  which,  for  three  centuries  past, 
has  led  you  to  harrass  the  habitations  of  the  people  of  three 
continents,  of  whom  the  most  prudent,  the  Chinese  and 
Japanese,  were  constrained  to  drive  you  off,  that  they  might 
escape  your  chains  and  recover  their  internal  peace  ?  " 

Here  the  Bramins,  the  Rabbins,  the  Bonzes,  the  Chamans, 
the  Priests  of  the  Molucca  islands,  and  the  coasts  of  Guinea, 
loading  the  Christian  doctors  with  reproaches  :  "  Yes ! " 
cried  they,  "  these  men  are  robbers  and  hypocrites,  who 
preach  simplicity,  to  surprise  confidence  ;  humility,  to  enslave 
with  more  ease ;  poverty,  to  appropriate  all  riches  to  them- 
selves. They  promise  another  world,  the  better  to  usurp  the 
present ;  and  while  they  speak  to  you  of  tolerance  and  charity, 
they  burn,  in  the  name  of  God,  the  men  who  do  not  worship 
him  in  their  manner." 

"  Lying  priests,"  retorted  the  missionaries,  "  it  is  you  who 
abuse  the  credulity  of  ignorant  nations  to  subjugate  them.  It 
is  you  who  have  made  of  your  ministry  an  art  of  cheating 
and  imposture  ;  you  have  converted  religion  into  a  traffic  of 
cupidity  and  avarice.  You  pretend  to  hold  communications 
with  spirits,  and  they  give  for  oracles  nothing  but  your  wills. 
You  feign  to  read  the  stars,  and  destiny  decrees  only  your 
desires.  You  cause  idols  to  speak,  and  the  gods  are  but  the 
instruments  of  your  passions.  You  have  invented  sacrifices 
and  libations,  to  collect  for  your  own  profit  the  milk  of  flocks, 
and  the  flesh  and  fat  of  victims  ;  and  under  the  cloak  of  piety 
you  devour  the  offerings  of  the  gods,  who  cannot  eat,  and 
the  substance  of  the  people  who  are  forced  to  labor." 

"And  you,"  replied  the  Bramins,  the  Bonzes,  the  Chamans, 
"  you  sell  to  the  credulous  living,  your  vain  prayers  for  the 
souls  of  the  dead.  With  your  indulgences  and  your  absolu- 
tions you  have  usurped  the  power  of  God  himself;  and 

*  The  oath  taken  by  the  knights  of  the  Order  of  Malta,  is  to  kill,  or  make  the 
Mahometans  prisoners,  for  the  glory  of  God. 


l68  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

making  a  traffic  of  his  favors  and  pardons,  you  have  put 
heaven  at  auction ;  and  by  your  system  of  expiations  you 
have  formed  a  tariff  of  crimes,  which  has  perverted  all 
consciences."  * 

"  Add  to  this,"  said  the  Imans,  "  that  these  men  have  in- 
vented the  most  insidious  of  all  systems  of  wickedness, —  the 
absurd  and  impious  obligation  of  recounting  to  them  the 
most  intimate  secrets  of  actions  and  of  thoughts  (confessions) ; 
so  their  insolent  curiosity  has  carried  their  inquisition  even 
into  the  sanctuary  of  the  marriage  bed,f  and  the  inviolable 
recesses  of  the  heart." 

Thus  by  mutual  reproaches  the  doctors  of  the  different  sects 
began  to  reveal  all  the  crimes  of  their  ministry — all  the  vices 
of  their  craft ;  and  it  was  found  that  among  all  nations  the 
spirit  of  the  priesthood,  their  system  of  conduct,  their  actions, 
their  morals,  were  absolutely  the  same : 

That  they  had  everywhere  formed  secret  associations  and 
corporations  at  enmity  with  the  rest  of  society  :J 

*  As  long  as  it  shall  be  possible  to  obtain  purification  from  crimes  and  exemp- 
tion from  punishment  by  means  of  money  or  other  frivolous  practices ;  as  long  as 
kings  and  great  men  shall  suppose  that  building  temples  or  instituting  founda- 
tions, will  absolve  them  from  the  guilt  of  oppression  and  homicide ;  as  long  as  in- 
dividuals shall  imagine  that  they  may  rob  and  cheat,  provided  they  observe  fast 
during  Lent,  go  to  confession,  and  receive  extreme  unction,  it  is  impossible  there 
should  exist  in  society  any  morality  or  virtue ;  and  it  is  from  a  deep  conviction 
of  truth,  that  a  modern  philosopher  has  called  the  doctrine  of  expiations  la  verola 
des  societis. 

t  Confession  is  a  very  ancient  invention  of  the  priests,  who  did  not  fail  to  avail 
themselves  of  that  means  of  governing.  It  was  practised  in  the  Egyptian,  Greek, 
Phrygian,  Persian  mysteries,  etc.  Plutarch  has  transmitted  us  the  remarkable 
answer  of  a  Spartan  whom  a  priest  wanted  to  confess.  "Is  it  to  you  or  to  God 
I  am  to  confess  ?  "  "  To  God,"  answered  the  priest :  "  In  that  case,"  replied  the 
Spartan,  "man,  begone !  "  (Retnarkable  Sayings  of  the  Lacedemonians.)  The  first 
Christians  confessed  their  faults  publicly,  like  the  Essenians.  Afterwards,  priests 
began  to  be  established,  with  power  of  absolution  from  the  sin  of  idolatry.  In  the 
time  of  Theodosius,  a  woman  having  publicly  confessed  an  intrigue  with  a  deacon, 
bishop  Necterius,  and  his  successor  Chrysostom,  granted  communion  without 
confession.  It  was  not  until  the  seventh  century  that  the  abbots  of  convents  ex- 
acted from  monks  and  nuns  confession  twice  a  year;  and  it  was  at  a  still  later 
period  that  bishops  of  Rome  generalized  it. 

The  Mussulmen,  who  suppose  women  to  have  no  souls,  are  shocked  at  the 
idea  of  confession  ;  and  say  ;  How  can  an  honest  man  think  of  listening  to  the 
recital  of  the  actions  or  the  secret  thoughts  of  a  woman?  May  we  not  also  ask, 
on  the  other  hand,  how  can  an  honest  woman  consent  to  reveal  the'm? 

%  That  we  may  understand  the  general  feelings  of  priests  respecting  the  rest  of 
mankind,  whom  they  always  call  by  the  name  of  the  people,  let  us  hear  one  of  the 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  169 

That  they  had  everywhere  attributed  to  themselves  prerog- 
atives and  immunities,  by  means  of  which  they  lived  exempt 
from  the  burdens  of  other  classes  : 

That  they  everywhere  avoided  the  toils  t)f  the  laborer,  the 
dangers  of  the  soldier,  and  the  disappointments  of  the  mer- 
chant : 

That  they  lived  everywhere  in  celibacy,  to  shun  even  the 
cares  of  a  family : 

That,  under  the  cloak  of  poverty,  they  found  everywhere 
the  secret  of  procuring  wealth  and  all  sorts  of  enjoyments  : 

That  under  the  name  of  mendicity  they  raised  taxes  to  a 
greater  amount  than  princes  : 

That  in  the  form  of  gifts  and  offerings  they  had  established 
fixed  and  certain  revenues  exempt  from  charges : 

That  under  pretence  of  retirement  and  devotion  they  lived 
in  idleness  and  licentiousness : 

That  they  had  made  a  virtue  of  alms-giving,  to  live  quietly 
on  the  labors  of  others : 

doctors  of  the  church.  "  The  people,"  says  Bishop  Synnesius,  in  Oalvit.  page  315, 
"  are  desirous  of  being  deceived,  we  cannot  act  otherwise  respecting  them.  The 
case  was  similar  with  the  ancient  priests  of  Egypt,  and  for  this  reason  they  shut 
themselves  up  in  their  temples,  and  there  composed  their  mysteries,  out  of  the 
reach  of  the  eye  of  the  people."  And  forgetting  what  he  has  before  just  said,  he 
adds :  "  for  had  the  people  been  in  the  secret  they  might  have  been  offended  at 
the  deception  played  upon  them.  In  the  mean  time  how  is  it  possible  to  conduct 
one's  self  otherwise  with  the  people  so  long  as  they  are  people?  For  my  own 
part,  to  myself  I  shall  always  be  a  philosopher,  but  in  dealing  with  the  mass  of 
mankind,  I  shall  be  a  priest." 

"A  little  jargon,"  says  Geogory  Nazianzen  to  St.  Jerome  (Hieron.  ad.  Nep.) 
"  is  all  that  is  necessary  to  impose  on  the  people.  The  less  they  comprehend,  the 
more  they  admire.  Our  forefathers  and  doctors  of  the  church  have  often  said, 
not  what  they  thought,  but  what  circumstances  and  necessity  dictated  to  them." 

"We  endeavor,"  says  Sanchoniaton,  "to  excite  admiration  by  means  of  the 
marvellous."  (Prcsp.  Kvang.  lib.  3.) 

Such  was  the  conduct  of  all  the  priests  of  antiquity,  and  is  still  that  of  the  Bra- 
mins  and  Lamas,  who  are  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  Egyptian  priests.  Such 
was  the  practice  of  the  Jesuits,  who  marched  with  hasty  strides  in  the  same  ca- 
reer. It  is  useless  to  point  out  the  whole  depravity  of  such  a  doctrine.  In  gen- 
eral every  association  which  has  mystery  for  its  basis,  or  an  oath  of  secrecy,  is  a 
league  of  robbers  against  society,  a  league  divided  in  its  very  bosom  into  knaves 
and  dupes,  or  in  other  words,  agents  and  instruments.  It  is  thus  we  ought  to 
judge  of  those  modern  clubs,  which,  under  the  name  of  Illuminatists,  Martinists, 
Cagliostronists,  and  Mesmerites,  infest  Europe.  These  societies  are  the  follies 
and  deceptions  of  the  ancient  Cabalists,  Magicians.  Orphies,  etc.,  "who,"  says 
Plutarch,  "led  into  errors  of  considerable  magnitude,  not  only  individuals,  but 
kings  and  nations." 


170  THE  RUINS  OF  EMPIRES. 

That  they  had  invented  the  ceremonies  of  worship,  as  a 
means  of  attracting  the  reverence  of  the  people,  while  they 
were  playing  the  parts  of  gods,  of  whom  they  styled  them- 
selves the  interpreters  and  mediators,  to  assume  all  their 
powers ;  that,  with  this  design,  they  had  (according  to  the  de- 
gree of  ignorance  or  information  of  their  people)  assumed  by 
turns  the  character  of  astrologers,  drawers  of  horoscopes, 
fortune-tellers,  magicians,*  necromancers,  quacks,  physicians, 
courtiers,  confessors  of  princes,  always  aiming  at  the  great 
object  to  govern  for  their  own  advantage  : 

That  sometimes  they  had  exalted  the  power  of  kings  and 
consecrated  their  persons,  to  monopolize  their  favors,  or  par- 
ticipate their  sway : 

That  sometimes  they  had  preached  up  the  murder  of 
tyrants  (reserving  it  to  themselves  to  define  tyranny),  to  avenge 
themselves  of  their  contempt  or  their  disobedience : 

And  that  they  always  stigmatised  with  impiety  whatever 
crossed  their  interests  ;  that  they  hindered  all  public  instruc- 
tion, to  exercise  the  monopoly  of  science  ;  that  finally,  at  all 
times  and  in  all  places,  they  had  found  the  secret  of  living  in 
peace  in  the  midst  of  the  anarchy  they  created,  in  safety  under 
the  despotism  that  they  favored,  in  idleness  amidst  the  indus- 
try they  preached,  and  in  abundance  while  surrounded  with 
scarcity ;  and  all  this  by  carrying  on  the  singular  trade  of 
selling  words  and  gestures  to  credulous  people,  who  purchase 
them  as  commodities  of  the  greatest  value.f 

*What  is  a  magician,  in  the  sense  in  which  people  understand  the  word  ?  A  man 
who  by  words  and  gestures  pretends  to  act  on  supernatural  beings,  and  compel 
them  to  descend  at  his  call  and  obey  his  orders.  Such  was  the  conduct  of  the  an- 
cient priests,  and  such  is  still  that  of  all  priests  in  idolatrous  nations  ;  for  which 
reason  we  have  given  them  the  denomination  of  Magicians. 

And  when  a  Christian  priest  pretends  to  make  God  descend  from  heaven,  to  fix 
him  to  a  morsel  of  leaven,  and  render,  by  means  of  this  talisman,  souls  pure  and 
in  a  state  of  grace,  what  is  this  but  a  trick  of  magic  ?  And  where  is  the  difference 
between  a  Chaman  of  Tartary  who  invokes  the  Genii,  or  an  Indian  Bramin,  who 
makes  Vichenou  descend  in  a  vessel  of  water  to  drive  away  evil  spirits  ?  Yes,  the 
identity  of  the  spirit  of  priests  in  every  age  and  country  is  fully  established!  Every 
where  it  is  the  assumption  of  an  exclusive  privilege,  the  pretended  faculty  of  mov- 
ing at  will  the  powers  of  nature  ;  and  this  assumption  is  so  direct  a  violation  of 
the  right  of  equality,  that  whenever  the  people  shall  regain  their  importance,  they 
will  forever  abolish  this  sacrilegious  kind  of  nobility,  which  has  been  the  type 
and  parent  stock  of  the  other  species  of  nobility. 

f  A  curious  work  would  be  the  comparative  history  of  the  agnuses  of  the  pope 
and  the  pastils  of  the  grand  Lama.  It  would  be  worth  while  to  extend  this  idea 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  171 

* 

Then  the  different  nations,  in  a  transport  of  fury,  were 
going  to  tear  in  pieces  the  men  who  had  thus  abused  them  ; 
but  the  legislator,  arresting  this  movement  of  violence,  ad- 
dressed the  chiefs  and  doctors  : 

"  What ! "  said  he,  "  instructors  of  nations,  is  it  thus  that 
you  have  deceived  them  ?  " 

And  the  terrified  priests  replied . 

"  O  legislator !  we  are  men.  The  people  are  so  supersti- 
tious !  they  have  themselves  encouraged  these  errors."  * 

And  the  kings  said : 

"  O  legislator !  the  people  are  so  servile  and  so  ignorant ! 
they  prostrated  themselves  before  the  yoke,  which  we  scarcely 
dared  to  show  them."f 

Then  the  legislator,  turning  to  the  people  —  "  People  !  " 
said  he,  "  remember  what  you  have  just  heard  ;  they  are  two 
indelible  truths.  Yes,  you  yourselves  cause  the  evils  of  which 
you  complain  ;  yourselves  encourage  the  tyrants,  by  a  base 
adulation  of  their  power,  by  an  imprudent  admiration  of  their 
false  beneficence,  by  servility  in  obedience,  by  licentiousness 
in  liberty,  and  by  a  credulous  reception  of  every  imposition. 
On  whom  shall  you  wreak  vengeance  for  the  faults  commit- 
ted by  your  own  ignorance  and  cupidity  ?  " 

And  the  people,  struck  with  confusion,  remained  in  mourn- 
ful silence. 

to  religious  ceremonies  in  general,  and  to  confront,  column  by  column,  the  analo- 
gous or  contrasting  points  of  faith  and  superstitious  practices  in  all  nations.  There 
is  one  more  species  of  superstition  which  it  would  be  equally  salutary  to  cure, 
blind  veneration  for  the  great ;  and  for  this  purpose  it  would  be  alone  sufficient  to 
write  a  minute  detail  of  the  private  life  of  kings  and  princes.  No  work  could  be 
so  philosophical  as  this  ;  and  accordingly  we  have  seen  what  a  general  outcry  was 
excited  among  kings  and  the  panders  of  kings,  when  the  Anecdotes  of  the  Court 
of  Berlin  first  appeared.  What  would  be  the  alarm  were  the  public  put  in  pos- 
session of  the  sequel  of  this  work  ?  Were  the  people  fairly  acquainted  with  all  the 
absurdities  of  this  species  of  idol,  they  would  no  longer  be  exposed  to  covet  their 
specious  pleasures,  of  which  the  plausible  and  hollow  appearance  disturbs  their 
peace,  and  hinders  them  from  enjoying  the  much  more  solid  happiness  of  their 
own  condition. 

*  Consider  in  this  veiw  the  Brabanters. 

t  The  inhabitants  of  Vienna,  for  example,  who  harnessed  themselves  like  cattle, 
and  drew  the  chariot  of  Leopold. 


172  THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

CHAPTER     XXIV.. 

SOLUTION  OF  THE  PROBLEM  OF  CONTRADICTIONS. 

THE  legislator  then  resumed  his  discourse :  "  O  nations  !" 
said  he,  "  we  have  heard  the  discussion  of  your  opinions- 
The  different  sentiments  which  divide  you  have  given 
rise  to  many  reflections,  and  furnished  several   questions 
which  we  shall  propose  to  you  to  solve. 

"First,  considering  the  diversity  and  opposition  of  the 
creeds  to  which  you  are  attached,  we  ask  on  what  motives  you 
found  your  persuasion  ?  Is  it  from  a  deliberate  choice  that 
you  follow  the  standard  of  one  prophet  rather  than  another  ? 
Before  adopting  this  doctrine,  rather  than  that,  did  you  first 
compare  ?  did  you  carefully  examine  them  ?  O£  have  you 
received  them  only  from  the  chance  of  birth,  from  thejsmpire 
of  education  and  habit  j*  ^Are  you  not  born  Christians  on  the 
borders  of  the  Tiber,  Mussulmans  on  those  of  the  Euphrates, 
Idolaters  on  the  Indus,  just  as  you  are  born  fair  in  cold 
climates,  and  sable  under  the  scorching  sun  of  Africa  ?  And 
if  your  opinions  are  the  effect  of  your  fortuitous  position  on 
the  earth,  of  consanguinity,  of  imitation,  how  is  it  that  such  a 
hazard  should  be  a  ground  of  conviction,  an  argument  of 
truth  ? 

"  Secondly,  when  we  reflect  on  the  mutual  proscriptions  and 
arbitrary  intolerance  of  your  pretensions,  we  are  frightened 
at  the  consequences  that  flow  from  your  own  principles.  Na- 
tions !  who  reciprocally  devote  each  other  to  the  bolts  of 
heavenly  wrath,  suppose  that  the  universal  Being,  whom  you 
revere,  should  this  moment  descend  from  heaven  on  this 
multitude ;  and,  clothed  with  all  his  power,  should  sit  on  this 
throne  to  judge  you ;  suppose  that  he  should  say  to  you : 
Mortals !  it  is  your  own  justice  that  I  am  going  to  exercise 
upon  you.  •  Yes,  of  all  the  religious  systems  that  divide  you, 
one  alone  shall  this  day  be  preferred ;  all  the  others,  all  this 
multitude  of  standards,  of  nations,  of  prophets,  shall  be  con- 


THE   RUINS   OF   EMPIRES.  173 

demned  to  eternal  destruction.  This  is  not  enough  :  among 
the  particular  sects  of  the  chosen  system,  one  only  can  be 
favored ;  all  the  others  must  be  condemned :  neither  is  this 
enough  ;  —  from  this  little  remnant  of  a  group  I  must  exclude 
all  those  who  have  not  fulfilled  the  conditions  enjoined  by  its 
precepts.  O  men !  to  what  a  small  number  of  elect  have  you 
limited  your  race !  to  what  a  penury  of  beneficence  do  you 
reduce  the  immensity  of  my  goodness  !  to  what  a  solitude  of 
beholders  do  you  condemn  my  greatness  and  my  glory ! 

"  But,"  said  the  legislator  rising,  "  no  matter ;  you  have 
willed  it  so.  Nations !  here  is  an  urn  in  which  all  your  names 
are  placed :  one  only  is  a  prize  :  approach,  and  draw  this 
tremendous  lottery !  "  And  the  nations,  seized  with  terror, 
cried:  "No.no;  we  are  all  brothers,  all  equal;  we  cannot 
condemn  each  other." 

"  Then,"  said  the  legislator,  resuming  his  seat :  "  O  men ! 
who  dispute  on  so  many  subjects,  lend  an  attentive  ear  to 
one  problem  which  you  exhibit,  and  which  you  ought  to 
decide  yourselves." 

And  the  people,  giving  great  attention,  he  lifted  an  arm 
towards  heaven,  and,  pointing  to  the  sun,  said : 

"  Nations,  does  that  sun,  which  enlightens  you,  appear 
square  or  triangular  ?  " 

"  No,"  answered  they  with  one  voice,  "  it  is  'round." 

Then,  taking  the  golden 'balance  that  was  on  the  altar : 

"  This  gold,"  said  the  legislator,  "  that  you  handle  every 
day,  is  it  heavier  than  the  same  volume  of  copper  ?  " 

"Yes,"  answered  all  the  people,  "gold  is  heavier  than 
copper." 

Then,  taking  the  sword  : 

"  Is  this  iron,"  said  the  legislator,  "  softer  than  lead  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  the  people. 

"  Is  sugar  sweet,  and  gall  bitter  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  Do  you  love  pleasure  and  hate  pain  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"Thus,  then,  you  are  agreed  in  these  points, ^ and  many 
others  of  the  same  nature. 

"  Now,  tell  us,  is  there  a  cavern  in  the  centre  of  the  earth, 
or  inhabitants  in  the  moon  ?  " 


174  THE   RUINS   OF    EMPIRES. 

This  question  caused  a  universal  murmur.  Every  one 
answered  differently  —  some  yes,  others  no ;  one  said  it  was 
probable,  another  said  it  was  an  idle  and  ridiculous  ques- 
tion ;  some,  that  it  was  worth  knowing.  And  the  discord 
was  universal. 

After  some  time  the  legislator,  having  obtained  silence, 
said: 

"  Explain  to  us,  O  Nations  !  this  problem  :  we  have  put  to 
you  several  questions  which  you  have  answered  with  one 
voice,  without  distinction  of  race  or  of  sect :  white  men,  black 
men,  followers  of  Mahomet  and  of  Moses,  worshippers  of 
Boudha  and  of  Jesus,  all  have  returned  the  same  answer.  We 
then  proposed  another  question,  and  you  have  all  disagreed  ! 
Why  this  unanimity  in  one  case,  and  this  discordance  in 
the  other  ?  " 

And  the  group  of  simple  men  and  savages  answered  and 
said :  "  The  reason  of  this  is  plain.  In  the  first  case  we  see 
and  feel  the  objects,  and  we  speak  from  sensation ;  in  the 
second,  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  our  senses  —  we  speak 
of  them  only  from  conjecture." 

"  You  have  resolved  the  problem,"  said  the  legislator ;  "  and 
your  own  consent  has  established  this  first  truth  : 

"  That  whenever  objects  can  be  examined  and  judged  of 
by  your  senses,  you  are  agreed  in  opinion ;  and  that  you  only 
differ  when  the  objects  are  absent  and  beyond  your  reach. 

"  From  this  first  truth  flows  another  equally  clear  and 
worthy  of  notice.  Since  you  agree  on  things  which  you 
know  with  certainty,  it  follows  that  you  disagree  only  on 
those  which  you  know  not  with  certainty,  and  about  which 
you  are  not  sure  ;  that  is  to  say,  you  dispute,  you  quarrel,  you 
fight,  for  that  which  is  uncertain,  that  of  which  you  doubt. 
O  men  !  is  this  wisdom  ? 

"  Is  it  not,  then,  demonstrated  that  truth  is  not  the  object 
of  your  contests  ?  that  it  is  not  her  cause  which  you  defend, 
but  that  of  your  affections,  and  your  prejudices  ?  that  it  is  not 
the  object,  as  it  really  is  in  itself,  that  you  would  verify,  but 
the  object  as  you  would  have  it ;  that  is  to  say,  it  is  not  the 
evidence  of  the  thing  that  you  would  enforce,  but  your  own 
personal  opinion,  your  particular  manner  of  seeing  and 
judging  ?  It  is  a  power  that  you  wish  to  exercise,  an  interest 


THE   RUINS  OF   EMPIRES.  175 

that  you  wish  to  satisfy,  a  prerogative  that  you  arrogate  to 
yourself;  it  is  a  contest  of  vanity.  Now,  as  each  of  you,  on 
comparing  himself  to  every  other,  finds  himself  his  equal  and 
his  fellow,  he  resists  by  a  feeling  of  the  same  right.  And 
your  disputes,  your  combats,  your  intolerance,  are  the  effect 
of  this  right  which  you  deny  each  other,  and  of  the  intimate 
conviction  of  your  equality. 

"  Now,  the  only  means  of  establishing  harmony  is  to  return 
to  nature,  and  to  take  for  a  guide  and  regulator  the  order  of 
things  which  she  has  founded ;  and  then  your  accord  will 
prove  this  other  truth  : 

"  That  real  beings  have  in  themselves  an  identical,  constant 
and  uniform  mode  of  existence ;  and  that  there  is  in  your 
organs  a  like  mode  of  being  affected  by  them. 

"  But  at  the  same  time,  by  reason  of  the  mobility  of  these 
organs  as  subject  to  your  will,  you  may  conceive  different 
affections,  and  find  yourselves  in  different  relations  with  the 
same  objects ;  so  that  you  are  to  them  like  a  mirror,  capable 
of  reflecting  them  truly  as  they  are,  or  of  distorting  and  dis- 
figuring them. 

"  Hence  it  follows,  that  whenever  you  perceive  objects  as 
they  are,  you  agree  among  yourselves,  and  with  the  objects  ; 
and  this  similitude  between  your  sensations  and  their  manner 
of  existence,  is  what  constitutes  their  truth  with  respect  to 
you ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  whenever  you  differ  in  opinion, 
your  disagreement  is  a  proof  that  you  do  not  represent  them 
such  as  they  are, —  that  you  change  them. 

"  Hence,  also,  it  follows,  that  the  causes  of  your  disagree- 
ment exist  not  in  the  objects  themselves,  but  in  your  minds, 
in  your  manner  of  perceiving  or  judging. 

"  To  establish,  therefore,  a  uniformity  of  opinion,  it  is  nec- 
essary first  to  establish  the  certainty,  completely  verified,  that 
the  portraits  which  the  mind  forms  are  perfectly  like  the 
originals  ;  that  it  reflects  the  objects  correctly  as  they  exist. 
Now,  this  result  cannot  be  obtained  but  in  those  cases  where 
the  objects  can  be  brought  to  the  test,  and  submitted  to  the 
examination  of  the  senses.  Everything  which  cannot  be 
brought  to  this  trial  is,  for  that  reason  alone,  impossible  to  be 
determined ;  there  exists  no  rule,  no  term  of  comparison,  no 
means  of  certainty,  respecting  it. 


176  THE  RUINS   OF   EMPIRES. 

"  From  this  we  conclude,  that,  to  live  in  harmony  and  peace, 
we  must  agree  never  to  decide  on  such  subjects,  and  to  attach 
to  them  no  importance  ;  in  a  word,  we  must  trace  a  line  of 
distinction  between  those  that  are  capable  of  verification,  and 
those  that  are  not ;  and  separate  by  an  inviolable  barrier  the 
world  of  fantastical  beings  from  the  world  of  realities  ;  that  is 
to  say,  all  civil  effect  must  be  taken  away  from  theological 
and  religious  opinions. 

"  This,  O  ye  people  of  the  earth !  is  the  object  proposed  by 
a  great  nation  freed  from  her  fetters  and  her  prejudices  ;  this 
is  the  work  which,  under  her  eye  and  by  her  orders,  we  had 
undertaken,  when  your  kings  and  your  priests  came  to  inter- 
rupt it.  O  kings  and  priests !  you  may  suspend,  yet  for  a 
while,  the  solemn  publication  of  the  laws  of  nature ;  but  it  is 
no  longer  in  your  power  to  annihilate  or  to  subvert  them." 

A  general  shout  then  arose  from  every  part  of  the  assembly  ; 
and  the  nations  universally,  and  with  one  voice,  testified  their 
assent  to  the  proposals  of  the  delegates :  "  Resume."  said  they, 
"  your  holy  and  sublime  labors,  and  bring  them  to  perfection. 
Investigate  the  laws  which  nature,  for  our  guidance,  has  im- 
planted in  our  breasts,  and  collect  from  them  an  authentic  and 
immutable  code  ;  nor  let  this  code  be  any  longer  for  one  fam- 
ily only,  but  for  us  all  without  exception.  Be  the  legislators 
of  the  whole  human  race,  as  you  are  the  interpreters  of  nature 
herself.  Show  us  the  line  of  partition  between  the  world  of 
chimeras  and  that  of  realities ;  and  teach  us,  after  so  many 
religions  of  error  and  delusion,  the  religion  of  evidence  and 
truth  ! " 

Then  the  delegates,  having  resumed  their  enquiries  into  the 
physical  and  constituent  attributes  of  man,  and  examined  the 
motives  and  affections  which  govern  him  in  his  individual 
and  social  state,  unfolded  in  these  words  the  laws  on  which 
nature  herself  has  founded  his  happiness. 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

OF  THE   LAW   OF   NATURE. 

Q.  WHAT  is  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  It  is  the  constant  and  regular  order  of  events,  by  which 
God  governs  the  universe  ;  an  order  which  his  wisdom  pre- 
sents to  the  senses  and  reason  of  men,  as  an  equal  and  common 
rule  for  their  actions,  to  guide  them,  without  distinction  of 
country  or  sect,  towards  perfection  and  happiness. 

Q.  Give  a  clear  definition  of  the  word  law. 

A,  The  word  law,  taken  literary,  signifies  lecture,*  because, 
originally,  ordinances  and  regulations  were  the  lectures, 
preferably  to  all  others,  made  to  the  people,  in  order  that 
they  might  observe  them,  and  not  incur  the  penalties  attached 
to  their  infraction  :  whence  follows  the  original  custom  ex- 
plaining the  true  idea. 

The  definition  of  law  is,  "  An  order  or  prohibition  to  act?X 
with  the  express  clause  of  a  penalty  attached  to  the  infraction, 
or  of  a  recompense  attached  to  the  observance  of  that  order." 

Q.  Do  such  orders  exist  in  nature  ? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  What  does  the  word  nature  signify  ? 

A.  The  word  nature  bears  three  different  significations. 

1.  It  signifies  the  universe,  the  material  world:  in  this  first 
sense  we  say  the  beauties  of  nature,  the  riches  of  nature,  that 
is  to  say,  the  objects  in  the  heavens  and  on  the  earth  exposed 
to  our  sight  ; 

2.  It  signifies  the  power  that  animates,  that  moves  the  uni- 
verse, considering  it  as  a  distinct  being,  such  as  the  soul  is  to 

*  From  the  Latin  word  lex,  lectio.  Alcoran  likewise  signifies  lecture  and  is 
only  a  literal  translation  of  the  word  law. 


fU 


178  THE   LAW    OF   NATURE. 

the  body;   in  this  second  sense  we  say,  "The  intentions  of 
nature,  the  incomprehensible  secrets  of  nature." 

3.  It  signifies  the  partial  operations  of  that  power  on  each 
being,  or  on  each  class  of  beings  ;  and  in  this  third  sense  we 
say,  "  The  nature  of  man  is  an  enigma  ;  every  being  acts  ac- 
cording to  its  nature." 

Wherefore,  as  the  actions  of  each  being,  or  of  each  species 
of  beings,  are  subjected  to  constant  and  general  rules,  which 
cannot  be  infringed  without  interrupting  and  troubling  the 
general  or  particular  order,  those  rules  of  action  and  of  motion 
are  called  natural  laws,  or  laws  of  nature. 

Q.  Give  me  examples  of  those  laws. 

A.  It  is  a  law  of  nature,  that  the  sun  illuminates  successively 
the  surface  of  the  terrestrial  globe;  —  that  its  presence  causes 
both  light  and  heat;  —  that  heat  acting  upon  water,  produces 
vapors  ; — that  those  vapors  rising  in  clouds  into  the  regions 
of  the  air,  dissolve  into  rain  or  snow,  and  renew  incessantly 
the  waters  of  fountains  and  rivers. 

It  is  a  law  of  nature,  that  water  flows  downwards  ;  that  it 
endeavors  to  find  its  level ;  that  it  is  heavier  than  air  ;  that  all 
bodies  tend  towards  the  earth  ;  that  flame  ascends  towards 
the  heavens;  —  that  it  disorganizes  vegetables  and  animals; 
that  air  is  essential  to  the  life  of  certain  animals  ;  that,  in  cer- 
tain circumstances,  water  suffocates  and  kills  them;  that 
certain  juices  of  plants,  certain  minerals  attack  their  organs, 
and  destroy  their  life,  and  so  on  in  a  multitude  of  other 
instances. 

Wherefore,  as  all  those  and  similar  facts  are  immutable, 
constant,  and  regular,  so  many  real  orders  result  from  them 
for  man  to  conform  himself  to,  with  the  express  clause  of 
punishment  attending  the  infraction  of  them,  or  of  welfare 
attending  their  observance.  So  that  if  man  pretends  to  see 
clear  in  darkness,  if  he  goes  in  contradiction  to  the  course  of 
the  seasons,  or  the  action  of  the  elements;  if  he  pretends  to 
remain  under  water  without  being  drowned,  to  touch  fire 
without  burning  himself,  to  deprive  himself  of  air  without 
being  suffocated,  to  swallow  poison  without  destroying  him- 
self, he  receives  from  each  of  those  infractions  of  the  laws  of 
nature  a  corporeal  punishment  proportionate  to  his  fault ;  but 
if  on  the  contrary,  he  observes  and  practises  each  of  those  laws 


THE   LAW   OF   NATURE.  179 

according  to  the  regular  and  exact  relations  they  have  to  him, 
he  preserves  his  existence,  and  renders  it  as  happy  as  it  can 
be :  and  as  the  only  and  common  end  of  all  those  laws,  con- 
sidered relatively  to  mankind,  is  to  preserve,  and  render  them 
happy,  it  has  been  agreed  upon  to  reduce  the  idea  to  one  sim- 
ple expression,  and  to  call  them  collectively  the  law  of  nature. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CHARACTERS  OF  THE  LAW  OF  NATURE. 

Q.  WHAT  are  the  characters  of  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  There  can  be  assigned  ten  principal  ones. 

Q.  Which  is  the  first  ? 

A.  To  be  inherent  to  the  existence  of  things,  and,  conse- 
quently, primitive  and  anterior  to  every  -offiefTow  :  so  that  all 
those  which  man  has  received,  are  only  imitations  of  it,  and 
their  perfection  is  ascertained  by  the  resemblance  they  bear 
to  this  primordial  model. 

Q.  Which  is  the  second  ? 

A.  To  be  derived  immediately  from  God,  and  presented  by 
him  to  each  man,  whereas  all  other  laws  are  presented  to  us 
by  men,  who  may  be  either  deceived  or  deceivers. 

Q.  Which  is  the  third  ? 

*4.  To  be  common  to  all  times,  and  to  all  countries,  that  is 
to  say,  one  and  universal. 

Q.  Is  no  other  law  universal  ? 

A.  No:  for  no  other  is  agreeable  or  applicable  to  all  the 
people  of  the  earth  ;  they  are  all  local  and  accidental,  origina- 
ting from  circumstances  of  places  and  of  persons ;  so  that  if 
such  a  man  had  not  existed,  or  such  an  event  happened,  such 
a  law  would  never  have  been  enacted. 

Q,  Which  is  the  fourth  character? 

A.  To  be  uniform  and  invariable. 

Q.  Is  no  other  law  uniform  and  invariable? 

A.  No  :  for  what  is  good  and  virtue  according  to  one,  is  evil 
and  vice  according  to  another ;  and  what  one  and  the  same  law 
approves  of  at  one  time,  it  often  condemns  at  another. 


l8o  THE   LAW   OF   NA.TURE. 

O.  Which  is  the  fifth  character  ? 

A.  To  be  evident  and  palpable,  because  it  consists  entirely 
of  facts  incessantly  present  to  the  senses,  and  to  demonstration. 

Q.  Are  not  other  laws  evident  ? 

A.  No :  for  they  are  founded  on  past  and  doubtful  facts,  on 
equivocal  and  suspicious  testimonies,  and  on  proofs  inaccessi- 
ble to  the  senses. 

Q.  Which  is  the  sixth  character  ? 

A.  To  be  reasonable,  because  its  precepts  and  entire 
doctrine  are  conformable  to  reason,  and  to  the  human  under- 
standing. 

Q.  Is  no  other  law  reasonable  ? 

A.  No :  for  all  are  in  contradiction  to  the  reason  and  the 
understanding  of  men,  and  tyrannically  impose  on  him  a  blind 
and  impracticable  belief. 

Q.  Which  is  the  seventh  character  ? 

A.  To  be  just,  because  in  that  law,  the  penalties  are  pro- 
portionate to  the  infractions. 

Q.  Are  not  other  laws  just  ? 

A.  No :  for  they  often  exceed  bounds,  either  in  rewarding 
deserts,  or  in  punishing  delinquencies,  and  consider  as  merito- 
rious or  criminal,  null  or  indifferent  actions. 

Q.  Which  is  the  eighth  character  ? 

A.  To  be  pacific  and  tolerant,  because  in  the  law  of  nature, 
all  men  being  brothers  and  equal  in  rights,  it  recommends  to. 
them  only  peace  and  toleration,  even  for  errors. 

Q.  Are  not  other  laws  pacific  ? 

A.  No :  for  all  preach  dissension,  discord,  and  war,  and 
divide  mankind  by  exclusive  pretensions  of  truth  and  domin- 
ation. 

Q.  Which  is  the  ninth  character  ? 

A.  To  be  equally  beneficent  to  all  men,  in  teaching  them 
the  true  means  of  becoming  better  and  happier. 

Q.  Are  not  other  laws  beneficent  likewise  ? 

A.  No :  for  none  of  them  teach  the  real  means  of  attaining 
happiness ;  all  are  confined  to  pernicious  or  futile  practices ; 
and  this  is  evident  from  facts,  since  after  so  many  laws,  so 
many  religions,  so  many  legislators  and  prophets,  men  are  still 
as  unhappy  and  ignorant,  as  they  were  six  thousand  years  ago. 

Q.  Which  is  the  last  character  of  the  law  of  nature  ? 


THE   LAW   OF   NATURE.  l8l 

A.  That  it  is  alone  sufficient  to  render  men  happier  and 
better,  because  it  comprises  all  that  is  good  and  useful  in  other 
laws,  either  civil  or  religious,  that  is  to  say,  it  constitutes  es- 
sentially the  moral  part  of  them ;  so  that  if  other  laws  were 
divested  of  it,  they  would  be  reduced  to  chimerical  and  im- 
aginary opinions  devoid  of  any  practical  utility. 

Q.  Recapitulate  all  those  characters. 

A.  We  have  said  that  the  law  of  nature  is, 

1.  Primitive ;  6.  Reasonable ; 

2.  Immediate  ;  7.  Just ; 

3.  Universal;  8.  Pacific; 

4.  Invariable;  9.  Beneficent:  and 

5.  Evident;  10.  Alone  sufficient. 

And  such  is  the  power  of  all  these  attributes  of  perfection 
and  truth,  that  when  in  their  disputes  the  theologians  can  agree 
upon  no  article  of  belief,  they  recur  to  the  law  of  nature,  the 
neglect  of  which,  say  they,  forced  God  to  send  from  time  to 
time  prophets  to  proclaim  new  laws  ;  as  if  God  enacted  laws 
for  particular  circumstances,  as  men  do  ;  especially  when  the 
first  subsists  in  such  force,  that  we  may  assert  it  to  have  been 
at  all  times  and  in  all  countries  the  rule  of  conscience  for 
every  man  of  sense  or  understanding. 

Q.  If,  as  you  say,  it  emanates  immediately  from  God,  does 
it  teach  his  existence  ? 

A.  Yes,  most  positively  :  for,  to  any  man  whatever,  who  ob- 
serves with  reflection  the  astonishing  spectacle  of  the  universe, 
the  more  he  meditates  on  the  properties  and  attributes  of  each 
being,  on  the  admirable  order  and  harmony  of  their  motions, 
the  more  it  is  demonstrated  that  there  exists  a  supreme  agent, 
a  universal  and  identic  mover,  designated  by  the  appellation 
of  God ;  and  so  true  it  is  that  the  law  of  nature  suffices  to  ele- 
vate him  to  the  knowledge  of  God,  that  all  which  men  have 
pretended  to  know  by  supernatural  means,  has  constantly 
turned  out  ridiculous  and  absurd,  and  that  they  have  ever  been 
obliged  to  recur  to  the  immutable  conceptions  of  natural 
reason. 

Q.  Then  it  is  not  true  that  the  followers  of  the  law  of  nature 
are  atheists  ? 

A.  No  ;  it  is  not  true  ;  on  the  contrary,  they  entertain  stronger 
and  nobler  ideas  of  the  Divinity  than  most  other  men;  for 


l82  THE  LAW  OF  NATURE. 

they  do  not  sully  him  with  the  foul  ingredients  of  all  the  weak- 
nesses and  passions  entailed  on  humanity. 

Q.  What  worship  do  they  pay  to  him  ? 

A.  A  worship  wholly  of  action ;  the  practice  and  observance 
of  all  the  rules  which  the  supreme  wisdom  has  imposed  on  the 
motion  of  each  being ;  eternal  and  unalterable  rules,  by  which 
it  maintains  the  order  and  harmony  of  the  universe,  and  which, 
in  their  relations  to  man,  constitute  the  law  of  nature. 

Q.  Was  the  law  of  nature  known  before  this  period : 

A.  It  has  been  at  all  times  spoken  of:  most  legislators  pre- 
tend to  adopt  it  as  the  basis  of  their  laws  ;  but  they  only  quote 
some  of  its  precepts,  and  have  only  vague  ideas  of  its  totality. 

Q.  Why. 

A.  Because,  though  simple  in  its  basis,  it  forms  in  its  de- 
velopements  and  consequences,  a  complicated  whole  which 
requires  an  extensive  knowledge  of  facts,  joined  to  all  the 
sagacity  of  reasoning. 

Q.  Does  not  instinct  alone  teach  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  No ;  for  by  instinct  is  meant  nothing  more  than  that 
blind  sentiment  by  which  we  are  actuated  indiscriminately 
towards  everything  that  flatters  the  senses. 

Q.  Why,  then,  is  it  said  that  the  law  of  nature  is  engraved 
in  the  hearts  of  all  men. 

A.  It  is  said  for  two  reasons  :  first,  because  it  has  been  re- 
marked, that  there  are  acts  and  sentiments  common  to  all 
men,  and  this  proceeds  from  their  common  organization  ; 
secondly,  because  the  first  philosophers  believed  that  men 
were  born  with  ideas  already  formed,  which  is  now  demon- 
strated to  be  erroneous. 

Q.  Philosophers,  then,  are  fallible  ? 

A.  Yes,  sometimes. 

Q.  Why  so  ? 

A.  First,  because  they  are  men  ;  secondly,  because  the  igno- 
rant call  all  those  who  reason,  right  or  wrong,  philosophers  ; 
thirdly,  because  those  who  reason  on  many  subjects,  and  who 
are  the  first  to  reason  on  them,  are  liable  to  be  deceived. 

Q.  If  the  law  of  nature  be  not  written,  must  it  not  become 
arbitrary  and  ideal  ?  . 

A.  No :  because  it  consists  entirely  in  facts,  the  demon- 
stration of  which  can  be  incessantly  renewed  to  the  senses, 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE.  183 

and  constitutes  a  science  as  accurate  and  precise  as  geome- 
try and  mathematics ;  and  it  is  because  the  law  of  nature 
forms  an  exact  science,  that  men,  born  ignorant  and  living 
inattentive  and  heedless,  have  had  hitherto  only  a  superficial 
knowledge  of  it. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PRINCIPLES    OF   THE   LAW    OF   NATURE    RELATING   TO    MAN. 

Q,  EXPLAIN  the  principles  of  the  law  of  nature  with  relation 
to  man. 

A.  They  are  simple ;  all  of  them  are  comprised  in  one  fun- 
damental and  single  precept. 

Q.  What  is  that  precept  ? 

A.  It  is  self-preservation. 

Q.  Is  not  happiness  also  a  precept  of  the  law  of  nature? 

A.  Yes:  but  as  happiness  is  an  accidental  state,  resulting 
only  from  the  development  of  man's  faculties  and  his  social 
system,  it  is  not  the  immediate  and  direct  object  of  nature  ;  it 
is  in  some  measure,  a  superfluity  annexed  to  the  necessary 
and  fundamental  object  of  preservation. 

Q.  How  does  nature  order  man  to  preserve  himself  ? 

A.  By  two  powerful  and  involuntary  sensations,  which  it 
has  attached,  as  two  guides,  two  guardian  Geniuses  to  all  his 
actions  :  the  one  a  sensation  of  pain,  by  which  it  admonishes 
him  of,  and  deters  him  from,  everything  that  tends  to  destroy 
him ;  the  other,  a  sensation  of  pleasure,  by  which  it  attracts 
and  carries  him  towards  everything  that  tends  to  his  preser- 
vation and  the  development  of  his  existence. 

Q.  Pleasure,  then,  is  not  an  evil,  a  sin,  as  casuists  pretend  ? 

A.  No,  only  inasmuch  as  it  tends  to  destroy  life  and  health, 
which,  by  the  avowal  of  those  same  casuists,  we  derive  from 
God  himself. 

Q.  Is  pleasure  the  principal  object  of  our  existence,  as  some 
philosophers  have  asserted  ? 

A.  No ;  not  more  than  pain ;  pleasure  is  an  incitement  to 
live  as  pain  is  a  repulsion  from  death. 

Q.  How  do  you  prove  this  assertion  ? 


I&J.  THE  LAW   OF  NATURE. 

A.  By  two  palpable  facts  :  One,  that  pleasure,  when  taken 
immoderately,  leads  to  destruction  ;  for  instance,  a  man  who 
abuses  the  pleasure  of  eating  or  drinking,  attacks  his  health, 
and  injures  his  life.  The  other,  that  pain  sometimes  leads  to 
self-preservation  ;  for  instance,  a  man  who  permits  a  mortified 
member  to  be  cut  off,  suffers  pain  in  order  not  to  perish  totally. 

Q.  But  does  not  even  this  prove  that  our  sensations  can 
deceive  us  respecting  the  end  of  our  preservation  ? 

A.  Yes ;  they  can  momentarily. 

Q.  How  do  our  sensations  deceive  us  ? 

A.  In  two  ways :  by  ignorance,  and  by  passion. 

Q.  When  do  they  deceive  us  by  ignorance  ? 

A.  When  we  act  without  knowing  the  action  and  effect  of  ob- 
jects on  our  senses  :  for  example,  when  a  man  touches  nettles 
without  knowing  their  stinging  quality,  or  when  he  swallows 
opium  without  knowing  its  soporiferous  effects. 

Q.  When  do  they  deceive  us  by  passion  ? 

A.  When,  conscious  of  the  pernicious  action  of  objects,  we 
abandon  ourselves,  nevertheless,  to  the  impetuosity  of  our 
desires  and  appetites :  for  example,  when  a  man  who  knows 
that  wine  intoxicates,  does  nevertheless  drink  it  to  excess. 

Q.  What  is  the  result  ? 

A.  That  the  ignorance  in  which  we  are  born,  and  the  un- 
bridled appetites  to  which  we  abandon  ourselves,  are  contrary 
to  our  preservation  ;  that,  therefore,the  instruction  of  our  minds 
and  the  moderation  of  our  passions  are  two  obligations,  two 
laws,  which  spring  directly  from  the  first  law  of  preservation. 

Q.  But  being  born  ignorant,  is  not  ignorance  a  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  No  more  than  to  remain  in  the  naked  and  feeble  state  of 
infancy.  Far  from  being  a  law  of  nature,  ignorance  is  an  ob- 
stacle to  the  practice  of  all  its  laws.  It  is  the  real  original  sin. 

Q.  Why,  then,  have  there  been  moralists  who  have  looked 
upon  it  as  a  virtue  and  perfection  ? 

A.  Because,  from  a  strange  or  perverted  disposition,  they 
confounded  the  abuse  of  knowledge  with  knowledge  itself; 
as  if,  because  men  abuse  the  power  of  speech,  their  tongues 
should  be  cut  out ;  as  if  perfection  and  virtue  consisted  in  the 
nullity,  and  not  in  the  proper  development  of  our  faculties. 

Q.  Instruction,  then,  is  indispensable  to  man's  existence  ? 

A.  Yes,  so  indispensable,  that  without  it  he  is  every  instant 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE.  185 

assailed  and  wounded  by  all  that  surrounds  him  ;  for  if  he 
does  not  know  the  effects  of  fire,  he  burns  himself;  those  of 
water  he  drowns  himself;  those  of  opium,  he  poisons  himself; 
if,  in  the  savage  state,  he  does  not  know  the  wiles  of  animals, 
and  the  art  of  seizing  game,  he  perishes  through  hunger;  if  in 
the  social  state,  he  does  not  know  the  course  of  the  seasons, 
he  can  neither  cultivate  the  ground,  nor  procure  nourishment ; 
and  so  on,  of  all  his  actions,  respecting  all  his  wants. 

Q.  But  can  man  individually  acquire  this  knowledge  neces- 
sary to  his  existence,  and  to  the  development  of  his  faculties? 

A.  No ;  not  without  the  assistance  of  his  fellow  men,  and  by 
living  in  society. 

Q.  But  is  not  society  to  man  a  state  against  nature  ? 

A.  No :  it  is  on  the  contrary  a  necessity,  a  law  that  nature 
imposed  on  him  by  the  very  act  of  his  organization  ;  for,  first, 
nature  has  so  constituted  man,  that  he  cannot  see  his  species 
of  another  sex  without  feeling  emotions  and  an  attraction, 
which  induce  him  to  live  in  a  family,  which  is  already  a  state 
of  society ;  secondly,  by  endowing  him  with  sensibility,  she 
organized  him  so  that  the  sensations  of  others  reflect  within 
him,  and  excite  reciprocal  sentiments  of  pleasure  and  of  grief, 
which  are  attractions,  and  indissoluble  ties  of  society  ;  thirdly, 
and  finally,  the  state  of  society,  founded  on  the  wants  of  man, 
is  only  a  further  means  of  fulfilling  the  law  of  preservation  : 
and  to  pretend  that  this  state  is  out  of  nature,  because  it  is 
more  perfect,  is  the  same  as  to  say,  that  a  bitter  and  wild  fruit 
of  the  forest,  is  no  longer  the  production  of  nature,  when  ren- 
dered sweet  and  delicious  by  cultivation  in  our  gardens. 

Q.  Why,  then,  have  philosophers  called  the  savage  state  the 
state  of  perfection  ? 

A.  Because,  as  I  have  told  you,  the  vulgar  have  often  given 
the  name  of  philosophers  to  whimsical  geniuses,  who,  from  mo- 
roseness,  from  wounded  vanity,  or  from  a  disgust  to  the  vices 
of  society,  have  conceived  chimerical  ideas  of  the  savage  state, 
in  contradiction  with  their  own  system  of  a  perfect  man. 

Q.  What  is  the  true  meaning  of  the  word  philosopher  ? 

A.  The  word  philosopher  signifies  a  lover  of  wisdom  ;  and 
as  wisdom  consists  in  the  practice  of  the  laws  of  nature,  the 
true  philosopher  is  he  who  knows  those  laws,  and  conforms 
the  whole  tenor  of  his  conduct  to  them. 


l86  THE    LAW   OF  NATURE. 

Q.  What  is  man  in  the  savage  state  ? 

A.  A  brutal,  ignorant  animal,  a  wicked  and  ferocious  beast. 

Q.  Is  he  happy  in  that  state  ? 

A.  No ;  for  he  only  feels  momentary  sensations,  which  are 
habitually  of  violent  wants  which  he  cannot  satisfy,  since  he  is 
ignorant  by  nature,  and  weak  by  being  isolated  from  his  race. 

Q.  Is  he  free  ? 

A.  No; he  is  the  most  abject  slave  that  exists;  for  his  life 
depends  on  everything  that  surrounds  him :  he  is  not  free  to 
eat  when  hungry,  to  rest  when  tired,  to  warm  himself  when 
cold ;  he  is  every  instant  in  danger  of  perishing ;  wherefore 
nature  offers  but  fortuitous  examples  of  such  beings ;  and  we 
see  that  all  the  efforts  of  the  human  species,  since  its  origin, 
sorely  tends  to  emerge  from  that  violent  state  by  the  pressing 
necessity  of  self-preservation. 

Q.  But  does  not  this  necessity  of  preservation  engender  in 
individuals  egotism,  that  is  to  say  self-love  ?  and  is  not  ego- 
tism contrary  to  the  social  state  ? 

A.  No ;  for  if  by  egotism  you  mean  a  propensity  to  hurt  our 
neighbor,  it  is  no  longer  self-love,  but  the  hatred  of  others. 
Self-love,  taken  in  its  true  sense,  not  only  is  not  contrary  to 
society,  but  is  its  firmest  support,  by  the  necessity  we  lie  under 
of  not  injuring  others,  lest  in  return  they  should  injure  us. 

Thus  man's  preservation,  and  the  unfolding  of  his  faculties, 
directed  towards  this  end,  teach  the  true  law  of  nature  in  the 
production  of  the  human  being  ;  and  it  is  from  this  essential 
principle  that  are  derived,  are  referred,  and  in  its  scale  are 
weighed,  all  ideas  pf  good  and  evil,  of  vice  and  virtue,  of  just 
and  unjust,  of  truth  or  error,  of  lawful  or  forbidden,  on  which 
is  founded  the  morality  of  individual,  or  of  social  man. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
BASIS  OF  MORALITY;  OF  GOOD,  OF  EVIL,  OF  SIN,  OF  CRIME, 

OF  VICE  AND  OF  VIRTUE. 

Q.  WHAT  is  good,  according  to  the  law  of  nature  ? 
A.  It  is  everything  that  tends  to  preserve  and  perfect  man. 
Q.  What  is  evil  ? 
A.  That  which  tends  to  man's  destruction  or  deterioration. 


THE   LAW   OF  NATURE.  187 

Q.  What  is  meant  by  physical  good  and  evil,  and  by  moral 
good  and  evil  ? 

A.  By  the  word  physical  is  understood,  whatever  acts  im- 
mediately on  the  body.  Health  is  a  physical  good ;  and  sick- 
ness a  physical  evil.  By  moral,  is  meant  what  acts  by  conse- 
quences more  or  less  remote.  Calumny  is  a  moral  evil ;  a  fair 
reputation  is  a  moral  good,  because  both  one  and  the  other 
occasion  towards  us,  on  the  part  of  other  men,  dispositions 
and  habitudes,*  which  are  useful  or  hurtful  to  our  preservation, 
and  which  attack  or  favor  our  means  of  existence. 

Q.  Everything  that  tends  to  preserve,  or  to  produce  is  there- 
fore a  good  ? 

A.  Yes ;  and  it  is  for  that  reason  that  certain  legislators 
have  classed  among  the  works  agreeable  to  the  divinity,  the 
cultivation  of  a  field  and  the  fecundity  of  a  woman. 

Q.  Whatever  tends  to  cause  death  is,  therefore,  an  evil  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  and  it  is  for  that  reason  some  legislators  have  ex- 
tended the  idea  of  evil  and  of  sin  even  to  the  killing, of  animals. 

Q.  The  murdering  of  a  man  is,  therefore,  a  crime  in  the  law 
of  nature  ? 

A.  Yes,  and  the  greatest  that  can  be  committed  ;  for  every 
other  evil  can  be  repaired,  but  murder  alone  is  irreparable. 

Q.  What  is  a  sin  in  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  Whatever  tends  to  disturb  the  order  established  by  na- 
ture for  the  preservation  and  perfection  of  man  and  of  society. 

Q.  Can  intention  be  a  merit  or  a  crime  ? 

A.  No,  for  it  is  only  an  idea  void  of  reality :  but  it  is  a  com- 
mencement of  sin  and  evil,  by  the  impulse  it  gives  to  action. 

Q.  What  is  virtue  according  to  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A,  It  is  the  practice  of  actions  useful  to  the  individual  and 
to  society. 

Q.  What  is  meant  by  the  word  individual  ? 

A.  It  means  a  man  considered  separately  from  every  other. 

Q.  What  is  vice  according  to  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  It  is  the  practice  of  actions  prejudicial  to  the  individual 
and  to  society. 

Q.  Have  not  virtue  and  vice  an  object  purely  spiritual  and 
abstracted  from  the  senses  ? 

*  It  is  from  this  word  habitudes,  (reiterated  actions,)  in  Latin  mores,  that  the 
word  moral,  and  all  its  family,  are  derived. 


188  THE  LAW   OF  NATURE. 

A,  No ;  it  is  always  to  a  physical  end  that  they  finally  relate, 
and  that  end  is  always  to  destroy  or  preserve  the  body. 

Q.  Have  vice  and  virtue  degrees  of  strength  and  intensity  ? 

A.  Yes :  according  to  the  importance  of  the  faculties,  which 
they  attack  or  which  they  favor  ;  and  according  to  the  number 
of  persons  in  whom  those  faculties  are  favored  or  injured. 

Q.  Give  me  some  examples  ? 

A.  The  action  of  saving  a  man's  life  is  more  virtuous  than 
that  of  saving  his  property  ;  the  action  of  saving  the  lives  often 
men,  than  that  of  saving  only  the  life  of  one,  and  an  action 
useful  to  the  whole  human  race  is  more  virtuous  than  an  action 
that  is  only  useful  to  one  single  nation. 

Q.  How  does  the  law  of  nature  prescribe  the  practice  of 
good  and  virtue,  and  forbid  that  of  evil  and  vice  ? 

A.  By  the  advantages  resulting  from  the  practice  of  good 
and  virtue  for  the  preservation  of  our  body,  and  by  the  losses 
which  result  to  our  existence  from  the  practice  of  evil  and  vice. 

Q.  Its  precepts  are  then  in  action  ? 

A.  Yes :  they  are  action  itself,  considered  in  its  present  effect 
and  in  its  future  consequences. 

Q.  How  do  you  divide  the  virtues  ? 

A.  We  divide  them  in  three  classes,  first,  individual  virtues, 
as  relative  to  man  alone ;  secondly,  domestic  virtues,  as  relative 
to  a  family  ;  thirdly,  social  virtues,  as  relative  to  society. 


CHAPTER     V. 

OF   INDIVIDUAL  VIRTUES. 

Q.  WHICH  are  the  individual  virtues  ? 

A.  There  are  five  principal  ones,  to  wit:  first,  science,  which 
comprises  prudence  and  wisdom  ;  secondly,  temperance,  com- 
prising sobriety  and  chastity ;  thirdly,  courage,  or  strength  of 
body  and  mind  ;  fourthly,  activity,  that  is  to  say,  love  of  labor 
and  employment  of  time ;  fifthly,  and  finally,  cleanliness,  or 
purity  of  body,  as  well  in  dress  as  in  habitation. 

Q.  How  does  the  law  of  nature  prescribe  science  ? 

A.  Because  the  man  acquainted  with  the  causes  and  effects 
of  things  attends  in  a  careful  and  sure  manner  to  his  preser- 


THE   LAW    OF   NATURE.  189 

vation,  and  to  the  development  of  his  faculties.  Science  is  to 
him  the  eye  and  the  light,  which  enable  him  to  discern  clearly 
and  accurately  all  the  objects  with  which  he  is  conversant,  and 
hence  by  an  enlightened  man  is  meant  a  learned  and  well- 
informed  man.  With  science  and  instruction  a  man  never 
wants  for  resources  and  means  of  subsistence  ;  and  upon  this 
principle  a  philosopher,  who  had  been  shipwrecked,  said  to 
his  companions,  that  were  inconsolable  for  the  loss  of  their 
wealth  :  "  For  my  part,  I  carry  all  my  wealth  within  me." 

Q.  Which  is  the  vice  contrary  to  science  ? 

A.  It  is  ignorance. 

Q.  How  does  the  law  of  nature  forbid  ignorance  ? 

A.  By  the  grievous  detriments  resulting  from  it  to  our  ex- 
istence ;  for  the  ignorant  man  who  knows  neither  causes  nor 
effects,  commits  every  instant  errors  most  pernicious  to  him- 
self and  to  others  ;  he  resembles  a  blind  man  groping  his  way 
at  random,  and  who,  at  every  step,  jostles  or  is  jostled  by 
every  one  he  meets. 

Q.  What  difference  is  there  between  an  ignorant  and  a  silly 
man  ? 

A.  The  same  difference  as  between  him  who  frankly  avows 
his  blindness  and  the  blind  man  who  pretends  to  sight; 
silliness  is  the  reality  of  ignorance,  to  which  is  superadded 
the  vanity  of  knowledge. 

Q.  Are  ignorance  and  silliness  common  ? 

A.  Yes,  very  common  ;  they  are  the  usual  and  general  dis- 
tempers of  mankind :  more  than  three  thousand  years  ago 
the  wisest  of  men  said :  "The  number  of  fools  is  infinite;" 
and  the  world  has  not  changed. 

Q.  What  is  the  reason  of  it  ? 

A.  Because  much  labor  and  time  are  necessary  to  acquire 
instruction,  and  because  men,  born  ignorant  and  indolent,  find 
it  more  convenient  to  remain  blind,  and  pretend  to  see  clear. 

O.  What  difference  is  there  between  a  learned  and  a  wise 
man  ? 

A.  The  learned  knows,  and  the  wise  man  practices. 

Q.  What  is  prudence  ? 

A.  It  is  the  anticipated  perception,  the  foresight  of  the  effects 
and  consequences  of  every  action  ;  by  means  of  which  fore- 
sight, man  avoids  the  dangers  which  threaten  him,  while  he 


190  THE   LAW   OF  NATURE. 

seizes  on  and  creates  opportunities  favorable  to  him:  he 
thereby  provides  for  his  present  and  future  safety  in  a  certain 
and  secure  manner,  whereas  the  imprudent  man,  who  calcu- 
lates neither  his  steps  nor  his  conduct,  nor  efforts,  nor  resist- 
ance, falls  every  instant  into  difficulties  and  dangers,  which 
sooner  or  later  impair  his  faculties  and  destroy  his  existence. 

Q.  When  the  Gospel  says,  "  Happy  are  the  poor  of  spirit," 
does  it  mean  the  ignorant  and  imprudent  ? 

A.  No ;  for,  at  the  same  time  that  it  recommends  the  sim- 
plicity of  doves,  it  adds  the  prudent  cunning  of  serpents.  By 
simplicity  of  mind  is  meant  uprightness,  and  the  precept  of 
the  Gospel  is  that  of  nature. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ON  TEMPERANCE. 

Q.  WHAT  is  temperance  ? 

A.  It  is  a  regular  use  of  our  faculties,  which  makes  us  never 
exceed  in  our  sensations  the  end  of  nature  to  preserve  us  ;  it 
is  the  moderation  of  the  passions. 

Q.  Which  is  the  vice  contrary  to  temperance? 

A.  The  disorder  of  the  passions,  the  avidity  of  all  kind  of 
enjoyments,  in  a  word,  cupidity. 

Q.  Which  are  the  principal  branches  of  temperance  ? 

A.  Sobriety,  and  continence  or  chastity. 

Q.  How  does  the  law  of  nature  prescribe  sobriety? 

A.  By  its  powerful  influence  over  our  health.  The  sober 
man  digests  with  comfort ;  he  is  not  overpowered  by  the  weight 
of  aliments ;  his  ideas  are  clear  and  easy ;  he  fulfills  all  his 
functions  properly ;  he  conducts  his  business  with  intelligence ; 
his  old  age  is  exempt  from  infirmity  ;  he  does  not  spend  his 
money  in  remedies,  and  he  enjoys,  in  mirth  and  gladness,  the 
wealth  which  chance  and  his  own  prudence  have  procured 
him.  Thus,  from  one  virtue  alone,  generous  nature  derives 
innumerable  recompenses. 

Q.  How  does  it  prohibit  gluttony  ? 

A.  By  the  numerous  evils  that  are  attached  to  it.  The 
glutton,  oppressed  with  aliments,  digests  with  anxiety ;  his 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE.  191 

head,  troubled  by  the  fumes  of  indigestion,  is  incapable  of  con- 
ceiving clear  and  distinct  ideas ;  he  abandons  himself  with 
violence  to  the  disorderly  impulse  of  lust  and  anger,  which  im- 
pair his  health  ;  his  body  becomes  bloated,  heavy,  and  unfit 
for  labor ;  he  endures  painful  and  expensive  distempers  ;  he 
seldom  lives  to  be  old  ;  and  his  age  is  replete  with  infirmities 
and  sorrow. 

Q.  Should  abstinence  and  fasting  be  considered  as  virtuous 
actions  ? 

A.  Yes,  when  one  has  eaten  too  much ;  for  then  abstinence 
and  fasting  are  simple  and  efficacious  remedies ;  but  when  the 
body  is  in  want  of  aliment,  to  refuse  it  any,  and  let  it  suffer  from 
hunger  or  thirst,  is  delirium  and  a  real  sin  against  the  law  of 
nature. 

Q.  How  is  drunkenness  considered  in  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  As  a  most  vile  and  pernicious  vice.  The  drunkard,  de- 
prived of  the  sense  and  reason  given  us  by  God,  profanes  the 
donations  of  the  divinity :  he  debases  himself  to  the  condition 
of  brutes  ;  unable  even  to  guide  his  steps,  he  staggers  and  falls 
as  if  he  were  epileptic ;  he  hurts  and  even  risks  killing  himself; 
his  debility  in  this  state  exposes  him  to  the  ridicule  and  con- 
tempt of  every  person  that  sees  him ;  he  makes  in  his  drunken- 
ness, prejudicial  and  ruinous  bargains,  and  injures  his  fortune  ; 
he  makes  use  of  opprobrious  language,  which  creates  him 
enemies  and  repentance ;  he  fills  his  house  with  trouble  and 
sorrow,  and  ends  by  a  premature  death  or  by  a  cacochymical— ^JT 
old  age. 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  interdict  absolutely  the  use  of 
wine? 

A.  No  ;  it  only  forbids  the  abuse ;  but  as  the  transition  from 
the  use  to  the  abuse  is  easy  and  prompt  among  the  generality 
of  men,  perhaps  the  legislators,  who  have  proscribed  the  use 
of  wine,  have  rendered  a  service  to  humanity. 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  forbid  the  use  of  certain  kinds  of 
meat,  or  of  certain  vegetables,  on  particular  days,  during 
certain  seasons  ? 

A.  No  ;  it  absolutely  forbids  only  whatever  is  injurious  to 
health  ;  its  precepts,  in  this  respect,  vary  according  to  persons, 
and  even  constitute  a  very  delicate  and  important  science  ;  for 
the  quality,  the  quantity,  and  the  combination  of  aliments  have 


IQ2  THE  LAW   OF   NATURE. 

the  greatest  influence,  not  only  over  the  momentary  affections 
of  the  soul,  but  even  over  its  habitual  disposition.  A  man  is 
not  the  same  when  fasting  as  after  a  meal,  even  if  he  were 
sober.  A  glass  of  spirituous  liquor,  or  a  dish  of  coffee,  gives 
degrees  of  vivacity,  of  mobility,  of  disposition  to  anger,  sad- 
ness, or  gaiety  ;  such  a  meat,  because  it  lies  heavy  on  the 
stomach,  engenders  moroseness  and  melancholy  ;  such  an- 
other, because  it  facilitates  digestion,  creates  sprightliness,  and 
an  inclination  to  oblige  and  to  love.  The  use  of  vegetables, 
because  they  have  little  nourishment,  enfeebles  the  body,  and 
gives  a  disposition  to  repose,  indolence,  and  ease  ;  the  use  of 
meat,  because  it  is  full  of  nourishment,  and  of  spirituous 
liquors,  because  they  stimulate  the  nerves,  creates  vivacity, 
uneasiness,  and  audacity.  Now  from  those  habitudes  of  ali- 
ment result  habits  of  constitution  and  of  the  organs,  which 
form  afterwards  different  kinds  of  temperaments,  each  of 
which  is  distinguished  by  a  peculiar  characteristic.  And  it  is 
for  this  reason  that,  in  hot  countries  especially,  legislators 
have  made  laws  respecting  regimen  or  food.  The  ancients 
were  taught  by  long  experience  that  the  dietetic  science  con- 
stituted a  considerable  part  of  morality  ;  among  the  Egyptians, 
the  ancient  Persians,  and  even  among  the  Greeks,  at  the 
Areopagus,  important  affairs  were  examined  fasting  ;  and  it 
has  been  remarked  that,  among  those  people,  where  public 
affairs  were  discussed  during  the  heat  of  meals,  and  the  fumes 
of  digestion,  deliberations  were  hasty  and  violent,  and  the 
results  of  them  frequently  unreasonable,  and  productive  of 
turbulence  and  confusion, 


CHAPTER    VII. 

ON  CONTINENCE. 

Q.  DOES  the  law  of  nature  prescribe  continence  ? 

A.  Yes:  because  a  moderate  use  of  the  most  lively  of 
pleasures  is  not  only  useful,  but  indispensable,  to  the  support 
of  strength  and  health  :  and  because  a  simple  calculation  proves 
that,  for  some  minutes  of  privation,  you  increase  the  number 
of  your  days,  both  in  vigor  of  body  and  of  mind. 

Q.  How  does  it  forbid  libertinism  ? 


THE   LAW    OF   NATURE.  193 

A.  By  the  numerous  evils  which  result  from  it  to  the  physic- 
al and  the  moral  existence.  He  who  carries  it  to  an  excess 
enervates  and  pines  away;  he  can  no  longer  attend  to  study 
or  labor ;  he  contracts  idle  and  expensive  habits,  which  de- 
stroy his  means  of  existence,  his  public  consideration,  and  his 
credit ;  his  intrigues  occasion  continual  embarrassment,  cares, 
quarrels  and  lawsuits,  without  mentioning  the  grievous  deep- 
rooted  distempers,  and  the  loss  of  his  strength  by  an  inward 
and  slow  poison ;  the  stupid  dullness  of  his  mind,  by  the  ex- 
haustion of  the  nervous  sytem ;  and,  in  fine,  a  premature  and 
infirm  old  age. 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  look  on  that  absolute  chastity  so 
recommeded  in  monastical  institutions,  as  a  virtue  ? 

A.  No :  for  that  chastity  is  of  no  use  either  to  the  society 
that  witnesses,  or  the  individual  who  practises  it ;  it  is  even 
prejudicial  to  both.  First,  it  injures  society  by  depriving  it  of 
population,  which  is  one  of  its  principal  sources  of  wealth 
and  power;  and  as  bachelors  confine  all  their  views  and 
affections  to  the  term  of  their  lives,  they  have  in  general  an 
egotism  unfavorable  to  the  interests  of  society. 

In  the  second  place,  it  injures  the  individuals  who  practise 
it,  because  it  deprives  them  of  a  number  of  affections  and  re- 
lations which  are  the  springs  of  most  domestic  and  social  vir- 
tues ;  and  besides,  it  often  happens,  from  circumstances  of  age, 
regimen,  or  temperament,  that  absolute  continence  injures  the 
constitution  and  causes  severe  diseases,  because  it  is  contrary 
to  the  physical  laws  on  which  nature  has  founded  the  system 
of  the  reproduction  of  beings ;  and  they  who  recommend  so 
strongly  chastity,  even  supposing  them  to  be  sincere,  are  in 
contradiction  with  their  own  doctrine,  which  consecrates  the 
law  of  nature  by  the  well  known  commandment :  increase  and 
multiply. 

Q.  Why  is  chastity  considered  a  greater  virtue  in  women 
than  in  men  ? 

A,  Because  a  want  of  chastity  in  women  is  attended  with 
inconveniences  much  more  serious  and  dangerous  for  them 
and  for  society ;  for,  without  taking  into  account  the  pains  and 
diseases  they  have  in  common  with  men,  they  are  further  ex- 
posed to  all  the  disadvantages  and  perils  that  precede,  attend, 
and  follow  child-birth.  When  pregnant  contrary  to  law,  they 


IQ4  THE    LAW  OF  NATURE. 

become  an  object  of  public  scandal  and  contempt,  and  spend 
the  remainder  of  their  lives  in  bitterness  and  misery.  More- 
over, all  the  expense  of  maintaining  and  educating  their 
fatherless  children  falls  on  them  :  which  expense  impover- 
ishes them,  and  is  every  way  prejudicial  to  their  physical  and 
moral  existence.  In  this  situation,  deprived  of  the  freshness 
and  health  that  constitute  their  charm,  carrying  with  them 
an  extraneous  and  expensive  burden,  they  are  less  prized  by 
men,  they  find  no  solid  establishment,  they  fall  into  poverty, 
misery,  and  wretchedness,  and  thus  drag  on  in  sorrow  their 
unhappy  existence.  ^*"-T  t*-*^*^  <*^~~t£~-pt*-5  YW**^  <u^- 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  extend  so  far  as  the  scruples  of 
desires  and  thoughts. 

A.  Yes  ;  because,  in  the  physical  laws  of  the  human  body, 
thoughts  and  desires  inflame  the  senses,  and  soon  provoke  to 
action  :  now,  by  another  law  of  nature  in  the  organization  of 
our  body,  those  actions  become  mechanical  wants  which  recur 
at  certain  periods  of  days  or  of  weeks,  so  that,  at  such  a  time, 
the  want  is  renewed  of  such  an  action  and  such  a  secretion  ; 
if  this  action  and  this  secretion  be  injurious  to  health,  the 
habitude  of  them  becomes  destructive  of  life  itself.  Thus 
thoughts  and  desires  have  a  true  and  natural  importance. 

Q.  Should  modesty  be  considered  as  a  virtue  ? 

A.  Yes ;  because  modesty,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  shame  of  cer- 
tain actions,  maintains  the  soul  and  body  in  all  those  habits 
useful  to  good  order,  and  to  self-preservation.  The  modest 
woman  is  esteemed,  courted,  and  established,  with  advantages 
of  fortune  which  ensure  her  existence,  and  render  it  agreeable 
to  her,  while  the  immodest  and  prostitute  are  despised,  re- 
pulsed, and  abandoned  to  misery  and  infamy. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ON  COURAGE  AND  ACTIVITY. 

Q.  ARE  courage  and  strength  of  body  and  mind  virtues  in 
the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  Yes,  and  most  important  virtues;  for  they  are  the  effi- 
cacious and  indispensable  means  of  attending  to  our  preser- 
vation and  welfare.  The  courageous  and  strong  man  repulses 
oppression,  defends  his  life,  his  liberty,  and  his  property ;  by 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE.  195 

his  labor  he  procures  himself  an  adundant  subsistence,  which 
he  enjoys  in  tranquillity  and  peace  of  mind.  If  he  falls  into 
misfortunes,  from  which  his  prudence  could  not  protect  him, 
he  supports  them  with  fortitude  and  resignation ;  and  it  is  for 
this  reason  that  the  ancient  moralists  have  reckoned  strength 
and  courage  among  the  four  principal  virtues. 

Q.  Should  weakness  and  cowardice  be  considered  as 
vices  ? 

A.  Yes,  since  it  is  certain  that  they  produce  innumerable 
calamities.  The  weak  or  cowardly  man  lives  in  perpetual 
cares  and  agonies  ;  he  undermines  his  health  by  the  dread, 
oftentimes  ill  founded,  of  attacks  and  dangers  :  and  this  dread 
which  is  an  evil,  is  not  a  remedy;  it  renders  him,  on  the 
contrary,  the  slave  of  him  who  wishes  to  oppress  him  ;  and  by 
the  servitude  and  debasement  of  all  his  faculties,  it  degrades 
and  diminishes  his  means  of  existence,  so  far  as  the* seeing 
his  life  depend  on  the  will  and  caprice  of  another  man. 

Q.  But,  after  what  you  have  said  on  the  influence  of  ali- 
ments, are  not  courage  and  force,  as  well  as  many  other  virtues, 
in  a  great  measure  the  effect  of  our  physical  constitution  and 
temperament  ? 

A.  Yes,  it  is  true ;  and  so  far,  that  those  qualities  are  trans- 
mitted by  generation  and  blood,  with  the  elements  on  which 
they  depend :  the  most  reiterated  and  constant  facts  prove 
that  in  the  breed  of  animals  of  every  kind,  we  see  certain 
physical  and  moral  qualities,  attached  to  the  individuals  of 
those  species,  increase  or  decay  according  to  the  combina- 
tions and  mixtures  they  make  with  other  breeds. 

Q.  But,  then,  as  our  will  is  not  sufficient  to  procure  us  those 
qualities,  is  it  a  crime  to  be  destitute  of  them  ? 

A.  No,  it  is  not  a  crime,  but  a  misfortune ;  it  is  what  the_an- 
cients  call  an  unlucky  fatality ;  but  even  then  we  have  it  yet  in 
our  power  to  acquire  them  ;  for,  as  soon  as  we  know  on  what 
physical  elements  such  or  such  a  quality  is  founded,  we  can 
promote  its  growth,  and  hasten  its  developments,  by  a  skillful 
management  of  those  elements  ;  and  in  this  consists  thescience 
of  education,  which,  according  as  it  is  directed,  meliorates 
or  degrades  individuals,  or  the  whole  race,  to  such  a  pitch  as 
totally  to  change  their  nature  and  inclinations ;  for  which  rea- 
son it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  be  acquainted  with  the 


196  THE   LAW   OF  NATURE. 

laws  of  nature  by  which  those  operations  and  changes  are  cer- 
tainly and  necessarily  effected. 

Q.  Why  do  you  say  that  activity  is  a  virtue  according  to  the 
law  of  nature  ? 

A.  Because  the  man  who  works  and  employs  his  time  use- 
fully, derives  from  it  a  thousand  precious  advantages  to  his 
existence.  If  he  is  born  poor,  his  labor  furnishes  him  with 
subsistence ;  and  still  more  so,  if  he  is  sober,  continent,  and  pru- 
dent, for  he  soon  acquires  a  competency,  and  enjoys  the  sweets 
of  life ;  his  very  labor  gives  him  virtues ;  for,  while  he  occupies 
his  body  and  mind,  he  is  not  affected  with  unruly  desires,  time 
does  not  lie  heavy  on  him,  he  contracts  mild  habits,  he  aug- 
ments his  strength  and  health,  and  attains  a  peaceful  and 
happy  old  age. 

Q.  Are  idleness  and  sloth  vices  in  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  Yes,  and  the  most  pernicious  of  all  vices,  for  they  lead  to 
all  the  others.  By  idleness  and  sloth  man  remains  ignorant,  he 
forgets  even  the  science  he  had  acquired,  and  falls  into  all  the 
misfortunes  which  accompany  ignorance  and  folly ;  by  idle- 
ness and  sloth  man,  devoured  with  disquietude,  in  order  to 
dissipate  it,  abandons  himself  to  all  the  desires  of  his  senses, 
which,  becoming  every  day  more  inordinate,  render  him  in- 
temperate, gluttonous,  lascivious,  enervated,  cowardly,  vile, 
and  contemptible.  By  the  certain  effect  of  all  those  vices,  he 
ruins  his  fortune,  consumes  his  health,  and  terminates  his 
life  in  all  the  agonies  of  sickness  and  of  poverty, 

Q.  From  what  you  say,  one  would  think  that  poverty  was 
a  vice  ? 

A.  No,  it  is  not  a  vice ;  but  it  is  still  less  a  virtue,  for  it  is  by 
far  more  ready  to  injure  than  to  be  useful ;  it  is  even  commonly 
the  result,  or  the  beginning  of  vice,  for  the  effect  of  all  individ- 
ual vices  is  to  lead  to  indigence,  and  to  the  privation  of  the 
necessaries  of  life ;  and  when  a  man  is  in  want  of  necessaries, 
he  is  tempted  to  procure  them  by  vicious  means,  that  is  to  say, 
by  means  injurious  to  society.  All  the  individual  virtues  tend, 
on  the  contrary,  to  procure  to  a  man  an  abundant  subsistence ; 
and  when  he  has  more  than  he  can  consume,  it  is  much  easier 
for  him  to  give  to  others,  and  to  practice  the  actions  useful  to 
society. 

Q.  Do  you  look  upon  opulence  as  a  virtue  ? 


THE  LAW   OF  NATURE.  197 

A.  No  ;  but  still  less  as  a  vice  :  it  is  the  use  alone  of  wealth 
that  can  be  called  virtuous  or  vicious,  according  as  it  is  ser- 
viceable or  prejudicial  to  man  and  to  society.  Wealth  is  an 
instrument,  the  use  and  employment  alone  of  which  determine 
its  virtue  or  vice. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

ON   CLEANLINESS. 

Q.  WHY  is  cleanliness  included  among  the  virtues  ? 

A.  Because  it  is,  in  reality,  one  of  the  most  important  among 
them,  on  account  of  its  powerful  influence  over  the  health  and 
preservation  of  the  body.  Cleanliness,  as  well  in  dress  as  in 
residence,  obviates  the  pernicious  effects  of  the  humidity, 
baneful  odors,  and  contagious  exhalations,  proceeding  from 
all  things  abandoned  to  putrefaction.  Cleanliness,  maintains 
free  transpiration  ;  it  renews  the  air,  refreshes  the  blood,  and 
disposes  even  the  mind  to  cheerfulness. 

From  this  it  appears  that  persons  attentive  to  the  cleanliness 
of  their  bodies  and  habitations  are,  in  general,  more  healthy, 
and  less  subject  to  disease,  than  those  who  live  in  filth  and 
nastiness  ;  and  it  is  further  remarked,  that  cleanliness  carries 
with  it,  throughout  all  the  branches  of  domestic  administra- 
tion, habits  of  order  and  arrangement,  which  are  the  chief 
means  and  first  elements  of  happiness. 

Q.  Uncleanliness  or  filthiness  is,  then,  a  real  vice? 

A.  Yes,  as  real  a  one  as  drunkenness,  or  as  idleness,  from 
which  in  a  great  measure  it  is  derived.  Uncleanliness  is  the 
second,  and  often  the  first,  cause  of  many  inconveniences,  and 
even  of  grievous  disorders  ;  it  is  a  fact  in  medicine,  that  it 
brings  on  the  itch,  the  scurf,  tetters,  leprosies,  as  much  as  the 
use  of  tainted  or  sour  aliments  ;  that  it  favors  the  contagious 
influence  of  the  plague  and  malignant  fevers,  that  it  even 
produces  them  in  hospitals  and  prisons ;  that  it  occasions 
rheumatisms,  by  incrusting  the  skin  with  dirt,  and  thereby 
preventing  transpiration  ;  without  reckoning  the  shameful 
inconvenience  of  being  devoured  by  vermin — the  foul  appen- 
dage of  misery  and  depravity. 


198  THE  LAW  OF  NATURE. 

Most  ancient  legislators,  therefore,  considered  cleanliness, 
which  they  called  purity,  as  one  of  the  essential  dogmas  of 
their  religions.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  they  expelled  from 
society,  and  even  punished  corporeally  those  who  were 
infected  with  distempers  produced  by  uncleanliness  ;  that 
they  instituted  and  consecrated  ceremonies  of  ablutions, 
baths,  baptisms,  and  of  purifications,  even  by  fire  and  the 
aromatic  fumes  of  incense,  myrrh,  benjamin,  etc.,  so  that  the 
entire  system  of  pollutions,  all  those  rites  of  clean  and  unclean 
things,  degenerated  since  into  abuses  and  prejudices,  were 
only  founded  originally  on  the  judicious  observation,  which 
wise  and  learned  men  had  made,  of  the  extreme  influence  that 
cleanliness  in  dress  and  abode  exercises  over  the  health  of  the 
body,  and  by  an  immediate  consequence  over  that  of  the  mind 
and  moral  faculties. 

Thus  all  the  individual  virtues  have  for  their  object,  more 
or  less  direct,  more  or  less  near,  the  preservation  of  the  man 
who  practises  them  ;  and  by  the  preservation  of  each  man,  they 
lead  to  that  of  families  and  society,  which  are  composed  of 
the  united  sum  of  individuals. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ON  DOMESTIC  VIRTUES. 

Q.  WHAT  do  you  mean  be  domestic  virtues  ? 

A.  I  mean  the  practice  of  actions  useful  to  a  family,  sup- 
posed to  live  in  the  same  house.* 

Q.  What  are  those  virtues  ? 

A.  They  are  economy,  p&fefcnaf  love,  filial  love,  conjugal 
love,  fraternal  love,  and  the  accomplishment  of  the  duties  of 
master  and  servant. 

Q.  What  is  economy  ? 

A.  It  is,  according  to  the  most  extensive  meaning  of  the 
word,  the  proper  administration  of  every  thing  that  concerns 
the  existence  of  the  family  or  house ;  and  as  subsistence  holds 
the  first  rank,  the  word  economy  in  confined  to  the  employ- 
ment of  money  for  the  wants  of  life. 

*  Domestic  is  derived  from  the  Latin  word  domus,  a  house. 


THE   LAW   OF   NATURE.  199 

Q.  Why  is  economy  a  virtue  ? 

A.  Because  a  man  who  makes  no  useless  expenses  acquires 
a  superabundancy,  which  is  true  wealth,  and  by  means  of 
which  he  procures  for  himself  and  his  family  everything  that 
is  really  convenient  and  useful  ;  without  mentioning  his 
securing  thereby  resources  against  accidental  and  unforeseen 
losses,  so  that  he  and  his  family  enjoy  an  agreeable  and  un- 
disturbed competency,  which  is  the  basis  of  human  felicity. 

Q.  Dissipation  and  prodigality,  therefore,  are  vices  ? 

A.  Yes,  for  by  them  man,  in  the  end,  is  deprived  of  the 
necessaries  of  life  ;  he  falls  into  poverty  and  wretchedness  ; 
and  his  very  friends,  fearing  to  be  obliged  to  restore  to  him 
what  he  has  spent  with  or  for  them,  avoid  him  as  a  debtor 
does  his  creditor,  and  he  remains  abandoned  by  the  whole 
world. 

Q.  What  is  p^aternal  love  ? 

A.  It  is  the  assiduous  care  taken  by  parents  to  make  their 
children  contract  the  habit  of  every  action  useful  to  them- 
selves and  to  society. 

Q.  Why  io^pofcorrlal  tenderness  a  virtue  in  parents  ? 

A.  Because  parents,  who  rear  their  children  in  those  habits, 
procure  for  themselves,  during  the  course  of  their  lives,  en- 
joyments and  helps  that  give  a  sensible  satisfaction  at  every 
instant,  and  which  assure  t£>  them,  when  advanced  in  years, 
supports  and  consolations  against  the  wants  and  calamities 
of  all  kinds  with  which  old  age  is  beset. 

Q.  Is  paternal  love  a  common  virtue  ? 

A.  No ;  notwithstanding  the  ostentation  made  of  it  by  pa- 
rents, it  is  a  rare  virtue.  They  do  not  love  their  children, 
they  caress  and  spoil  them.  In  them  they  love  only  the 
agents  of  their  will,  the  instruments  of  their  power,  the 
trophies  of  their  vanity,  the  pastime  of  their  idleness.  It  is 
not  so  much  the  welfare  of  their  children  that  they  propose  to 
themselves,  as  their  submission  and  obedience  ;  and  if  among 
children  so  many  are  seen  ungrateful  for  benefits  received,  it 
is  because  there  are  among  parents  as  many  despotic  and 
ignorant  benefactors. 

Q.  Why  do  you  say  that  conjugal  love  is  a  virtue  ? 

A.  Because  the  concord  and  union  resulting  from  the  love 
of  the  married,  establish  in  the  heart  of  the  family  a  multitude 


200  THE   LAW   OF  NATURE. 

of  habits  useful  to  its  prosperity  and  preservation.  The 
united  pair  are  attached  to,  and  seldom  quit  their  home  ;  they 
superintend  each  particular  direction  of  it ;  they  attend  to  the 
education  of  their  children ;  they  maintain  the  respect  and 
fidelity  of  domestics ;  they  prevent  all  disorder  and  dissipa- 
tion ;  and  from  the  whole  of  their  good  conduct,  they  live  in 
ease  and  consideration  ;  while  married  persons  who  do  not 
love  one  another,  fill  their  house  with  quarrels  and  troubles, 
create  dissension  between  their  children  and  the  servants, 
leaving  both  indiscriminately  to  all  kinds  of  vicious  habits ; 
every  one  in  turn  spoils,  robs,  and  plunders  the  house :  the 
revenues  are  absorbed  without  profit ;  debts  accumulate  ;  the 
married  pair  avoid  each  other,  or  contend  in  lawsuits ;  and 
the  whole  family  falls  into  disorder,  ruin,  disgrace  and  want. 

Q.  Is  adultery  an  offence  in  the  law  of  nature  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  for  it  is  attended  with  a  number  of  habits  injurious 
to  the  married  and  to  their  families.  The  wife  or  husband, 
whose  affections  are  estranged,  neglect  their  house,  avoid  it, 
and  deprive  it,  as  much  as  they  can,  of  its  revenues  or  income, 
to  expend  them  with  the  object  of  their  affections  ;  hence  arise 
quarrels,  scandal,  lawsuits,  the  neglect  of  their  children  and 
servants,  and  at  last  the  plundering  and  ruin  of  the  whole 
family  ;  without  reckoning  that  the  adulterous  woman  com- 
mits a  most  grievous  theft,  in  giving  to  her  husband  heirs  of 
foreign  blood,  who  deprive  his  real  children  of  their  legiti- 
mate portion. 

Q.  What  is  filial  love  ? 

A.  It  is,  on  the  side  of  children,  the  practice  of  those  actions 
useful  to  themselves  and  to  their  parents. 

Q.  How  does  the  law  of  nature  prescribe  filial  love  ? 

A.  By  three  principal  motives  : 

i.  By  sentiment ;  for  the  affectionate  care  of  parents  inspires 
from  the  most  tender  age,  mild  habits  of  attachment. 
•  2.  By  justice ;  for  children  owe  to  their  parents  a  return  and 
indemnity  for  the  cares,  and  even  for  the  expenses,  they  have 
caused  them. 

3.  By  personal  interest ;  for,  if  they  use  them  ill,  they  give 
to  their  own  children  examples  of  revolt  and  ingratitude, 
which  authorize?  them,  at  a  future  day,  to  behave  to  themselves 
in  a  similar  manner. 


THE   LAW   OF   NATURE.  2OI 

Q.  Are  we  to  understand  by  filial  love  a  passive  and  blind 
submission  ? 

A.  No  ;  but  a  reasonable  submission,  founded  on  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  mutual  rights  and  duties  of  parents  and  children  ; 
rights  and  duties,  without  the  observance  of  which  their 
mutual  conduct  is  nothing  but  disorder. 

Q.  Why  is  fraternal  love  a  virtue  ? 

A.  Because  the  concord  and  union,  which  result  from  the 
love  of  brothers,  establish  the  strength,  security,  and  conserva- 
tion of  the  family  :  brothers  united  defend  themselves  against 
all  oppression,  they  aid  one  another  in  their  wants,  they  help 
one  another  in  their  misfortunes,  and  thus  secure  their  com- 
mon existence ;  while  brothers  disunited,  abandoned  each  to 
his  own  personal  strength,  fall  into  all  the  inconveniences 
attendant  on  an  insulated  state  and  individual  weakness. 
This  is  what  a  certain  Scythian  king  ingeniously  expressed 
when,  on  his  death-bed,  calling  his  children  to  him,  he  ordered 
them  to  break  a  bundle  of  arrows.  The  young  men,  though 
strong,  being  unable  to  effect  it,  he  took  them  in  his  turn, 
and  untieing  them,  broke  each  of  the  arrows  separately  with 
his  fingers.  "Behold,"  said  he,  "the  effects  of  union;  united 
together,  you  will  be  invincible  ;  taken  separately,  you  will 
be  broken  like  reeds." 

Q.  What  are  the  reciprocal  duties  of  masters  and  of  ser- 
vants ? 

A.  They  consist  in  the  practice  of  the  actions  which  are 
respectively  and  justly  useful  to  them;  and  here  begin  the 
relations  of  society ;  for  the  rule  and  measure  of  those  re- 
spective actions  is  the  equilibrium  or  equality  between  the 
service  and  the  recompense,  between  what  the  one  returns 
and  the  other  gives  ;  which  is  the  fundamental  basis  of  all 
society. 

Thus  all  the  domestic  and  individual  virtues  refer,  more  or 
less  mediately,  but  always  with  certitude,  to  the  physical 
object  of  the  amelioration  and  preservation  of  man,  and  are 
thereby  precepts  resulting  from  the  fundamental  law  of  nature 
in  his  formation. 


2O2  THE    LAW   OF  NATURE. 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE  SOCIAL  VIRTUES  ;    JUSTICE. 

Q.  WHAT  is  society  ? 

A.  It  is  every  reunion  of  men  living  together  under  the 
clauses  of  an  expressed  or  tacit  contract,  which  has  for  its 
end  their  common  preservation. 

Q.  Are  the  social  virtues  numerous  ? 

A.  Yes ;  they  are  in  as  great  number  as  the  kinds  of  actions 
useful  to  society  ;  but  all  may  be  reduced  to  one  principle. 

Q.  What  is  that  fundamental  principle  ? 

A.  It  is  justice,  which  alone  comprises  all  the  virtues  of 
society. 

Q.  Why  do  you  say  that  justice  is  the  fundamental  and 
almost  only  virtue  of  society  ? 

A.  Because  it  alone  embraces  the  practice  of  all  the  actions 
useful  to  it ;  and  because  all  the  other  virtues,  under  the 
denominations  of  charity,  humanity,  probity,  love  of  one's 
country,  sincerity,  generosity,  simplicity  of  manners,  and  mod- 
esty, are  only  varied  forms  and  diversified  applications  of  the 
axiom,  "  Do  not  to  another  what  you  do  not  wish  to  be  done 
to  yourself,"  which  is  the  definition  of  justice. 

Q.  How  does  the  law  of  nature  prescribe  justice  ? 

A.  By  three  physical  attributes,  inherent  in  the  organization 
of  man. 

Q,  What  are  those  attributes  ? 

A.  They  are  equality,  liberty,  and  property. 

Q.  How  is  equality  a  physical  attribute  of  man  ? 

A.  Because  all  men,  having  equally  eyes,  hands,  mouths, 
ears,  and  the  necessity  of  making  use  of  them,  in  order  to 
live,  have,  by  this  reason  alone,  an  equal  right  to  life,  and  to 
the  use  of  the  aliments  which  maintain  it ;  they  are  all  equal 
before  God. 

Q.  Do  you  suppose  that  all  men  hear  equally,  see  equally, 
feel  equally,  have  equal  wants,  and  equal  passions  ? 

A.  No  ;  for  it  is  evident,  and  daily  demonstrated,  that  one 
is  short,  and  another  long-sighted ;  that  one  eats  much,  an- 
other little ;  that  one  has  mild,  another  violent  passions  ;  in  a 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE.  203 

word,  that  one  is  weak  in  body  and  mind,  while  another  is 
strong  in  both. 

Q.  They  are,  therefore,  really  unequal  ? 

A.  Yes,  in  the  development  of  their  means,  but  not  in  the 
nature  and  essence  of  those  means.  They  are  made  of  the 
same  stuff,  but  not  in  the  same  dimensions  ;  nor  are  the 
weight  and  value  equal.  Our  language  possesses  no  one 
word  capable  of  expressing  the  identity  of  nature,  and  the 
diversity  of  its  form  and  employment.  It  is  a  proportional 
equality ;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  I  have  said,  equal  before 
God,  and  in  the  order  of  nature. 

Q.  How  is  liberty  a  physical  attribute  of  man  ? 

A.  Because  all  men  having  senses  sufficient  for  their  pres- 
ervation—  no  one  wanting  the  eye  of  another  to  see,  his  ear 
to  hear,  his  mouth  to  eat,  his  feet  to  walk  —  they  are  all,  by 
this  very  reason,  constituted  naturally  independent  and  free  ; 
no  man  is  necessarily  subjected  to  another,  nor  has  he  a  right 
to  dominate  over  him. 

Q.  But  if  a  man  is  born  strong,  has  he  a  natural  right  to 
master  the  weak  man  ? 

A.  No ;  for  it  is  neither  a  necessity  for  him,  nor  a  conven- 
tion between  them ;  it  is  an  abusive  extension  of  his  strength  ; 
and  here  an  abuse  is  made  of  the  word  right,  which  in  its  true 
meaning  implies,  justice  or  reciprocal  faculty. 

Q.  How  is  property  a  physical  attribute  of  man  ? 

A.  Inasmuch  as  all  men  being  constituted  equal  or  simi- 
lar to  one  another,  and  consequently  independent  and  free, 
each  is  the  absolute  master,  the  full  proprietor  of  his  body 
and  of  the  produce  of  his  labor. 

Q.  How  is  justice  derived  from  these  three  attributes  ? 

A.  In  this,  that  men  being  equal  and  free,  owing  nothing  to 
e'ach  other,  have  no  right  to  require  anything  from  one  another 
only  inasmuch  as  they  return  an  equal  value  for  it ;  or  inas- 
much as  the  balance  of  what  is  given  is  in  equilibrium  with 
what  is  returned :  and  it  is  this  equality,  this  equilibrium  which 
is  called  justice,  equity  ;*  that  is  to  say  that  equality  and  justice 
are  but  one  and  the  same  word,  the  same  law  of  nature, 
of  which  the  social  virtues  are  only  applications  and  deriv- 
atives. 

*  vEquitas,  aequilibrium,  aequalitas,  are  all  of  the  same  family. 


204  THE   LAW   OF  NATURE. 

CHAPTER    XII. 

DEVELOPMENT   OF  THE   SOCIAL  VIRTUES. 

Q.  EXPLAIN  how  the  social  virtues  are  derived  from  the  law 
of  nature.  How  is  charity  or  the  love  of  one's  neighbor  a 
precept  and  application  of  it  ? 

A.  By  reason  of  equality  and  reciprocity ;  for  when  we  injure 
another,  we  give  him  a  right  to  injure  us  in  return  ;  thus,  by 
'attacking  the  existence  of  our  neighbor,  we  endanger  our  own, 
from  the  effect  of  reciprocity  ;  on  the  other  hand,  by  doing 
good  to  others,  we  have  room  and  right  to  expect  an  equiva- 
lent exchange ;  and  such  is  the  character  of  all  social  virtues, 
that  they  are  useful  to  the  man  who  practises  them,  by  the 
right  of  reciprocity  which  they  give  him  over  those  who  are 
benefited  by  them. 

Q.  Charity  is  then  nothing  but  justice? 

A.  No:  it  is  only  justice;  with  this  slight  difference,  that 
strict  justice  confines  itself  to  saying,  "  Do  not  to  another  the 
harm  you  would  not  wish  he  should  do  to  you  ; "  and  that 
charity,  or  the  love  of  one's  neighbor,  extends  so  far  as  to  say, 
"Do  to  another  the  good  which  you  would  wish  to  receive 
from  him."  Thus  when  the  gospel  said,  that  this  precept  con- 
tained the  whole  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  it  announced 
nothing  more  than  the  precept  of  the  law  of  nature. 

Q.  Does  it  enjoin  forgiveness  of  injuries  ? 

A.  Yes,  when  that  forgiveness  implies  self-preservation. 

Q.  Does  it  prescribe  to  us,  after  having  received  a  blow  on 
one  cheek,  to  hold  out  the  other  ? 

A.  No ;  for  it  is,  in  the  first  place,  contrary  to  the  precept  of 
loving  our  neighbor  as  ourselves,  since  thereby  we  should 
love,  more  than  ourselves,  him  who  makes  an  attack  on  our 
preservation.  Secondly,  such  a  precept  in  its  literal  sense, 
encourages  the  wicked  to  oppression  and  injustice.  The  law 
of  nature  has  been  more  wise  in  prescribing  a  calculated  pro- 
portion of  courage  and  moderation,  which  induces  us  to  forget 
a  first  or  unpremediated  injury,  but  which  punishes  every  act 
tending  to  oppression. 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  prescribe  to  do  good  to  others 
beyond  the  bounds  of  reason  and  measure? 


THE  LAW   OF   NATURE.  205 

A.  No  ;  for  it  is  a  sure  way  of  leading  them  to  ingratitude. 
Such  is  the  force  of  sentiment  and  justice  implanted  in  the 
heart  of  man,  that  he  is  not  even  grateful  for  benefits  conferred 
without  discretion.  There  is  only  one  measure  with  them,  and 
that  is  to  be  just. 

Q.  Is  alms-giving  a  virtuous  action  ? 

A.  Yes,  when  it  is  practised  according  to  the  rule  first 
mentioned ;  without  which  it  degenerates  into  imprudence  and 
vice,  inasmuch  as  it  encourages  laziness,  which  is  hurtful  to 
the  beggar  and  to  society ;  no  one  has  a  right  to  partake  of  the 
property  and  fruits  of  another's  labor,  without  rendering  an 
equivalent  of  his  own  industry. 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  consider  as  virtues  faith  and  hope, 
which  are  often  joined  with  charity  ? 

A.  No  ;  for  they  are  ideas  without  reality  ;  and  if  any  effects 
result  from  them,  they  turn  rather  to  the  profit  of  those  who^ 
have  not  those  ideas,  than  of  those  who  have  them ;  so  that 
faith  and  hope  may  be  called  the  virtues  of  dupes  for  the  bene- 
fit of  knaves. 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  prescribe  probity  ? 

A.  Yes,  for  probity  is  nothing  more  than  respect  for  one's 
own  rights  in  those  of  another ;  a  respect  founded  on  a  pru- 
dent and  well  combined  calculation  of  our  interests  compared 
to  those  of  others. 

Q.  But  does  not  this  calculation,  which  embraces  the  compli- 
cated interests  and  rights  of  the  social  state,  require  an  en- 
lightened understanding  and  knowledge,  which  make  it  a 
difficult  science  ? 

A.  Yes,  and  a  science  so  much  the  more  delicate  as  the 
honest  man  pronounces  in  his  own  cause. 

Q.  Probity,  then,  shows  an  extension  and  justice  in  the  mind  ? 

A.  Yes,  for  an  honest  man  almost  always  neglects  a  present 
interest,  in  order  not  to  destroy  a  future  one ;  whereas  the 
knave  does  the  contrary,  and  loses  a  great  future  interest  for 
a  present  smaller  one. 

Q.  Improbity,  therefore,  is  a  sign  of  false  judgment  and  a 
narrow  mind? 

A.  Yes,  and  rogues  may  be  defined  ignorant  and  silly  calcu- 
lators ;  for  they  do  not  understand  their  true  interest,  and  they 
pretend  to  cunning :  nevertheless,  their  cunning  only  ends  in 


206  THE    LAW  OF  NATURE. 

making  known  what  they  are  —  in  losing  all  confidence  and 
esteem,  and  the  good  services  resulting  from  them  for  their 
physical  and  social  existence.  They  neither  live  in  peace 
with  others,  nor  with  themselves;  and  incessantly  menaced  by 
their  conscience  and  their  enemies,  they  enjoy  no  other  real 
happiness  but  that  of  not  being  hanged. 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  forbid  robbery  ? 

A,  Yes,  for  the- man  who  robs  another  gives  him  a  right  to 
rob  him ;  from  that  moment  there  is  no  security  in  his  prop- 
erty, nor  in  his  means  of  preservation  :  thus,  in  injuring  others, 
he,  by  a  counterblow,  injures  himself. 

Q.  Does  it  interdict  even  an  inclination  to  rob  ? 

A.  Yes ;  for  that  inclination  leads  naturally  to  action,  and  it 
is  for  this  reason  that  envy  is  considered  a  sin  ? 

Q,  How  does  it  forbid  murder  ? 

A.  By  the  most  powerful  motives  of  self-preservation  ;  for, 
first,  the  man  who  attacks  exposes  himself  to  the  risk  of  being 
killed,  by  the  right  of  defence  ;  secondly,  if  he  kills,  he  gives 
to  the  relations  and  friends  of  the  deceased,  and  to  society  at 
large,  an  equal  right  of  killing  him ;  so  that  his  life  is  no 
longer  in  safety. 

O.  How  can  we,  by  the  law  of  nature,  repair  the  evil  we 
have  done  ? 

A.  By  rendering  a  proportionate  good  to  those  whom  we 
have  injured. 

Q.  Does  it  allow  us  to  repair  it  by  prayers,  vows,  offerings 
to  God,  fasting  and  mortifications  ? 

A.  No :  for  all  those  things  are  foreign  to  the  action  we  wish 
to  repair :  they  neither  restore  the  ox  to  him  from  whom  it  has 
been  stolen,  honor  to  him  whom  we  have  deprived  of  it,  nor 
life  to  him  from  whom  it  has  been  taken  away ;  consequently 
they  miss  the  end  of  justice  ;  they  are  only  perverse  contracts 
by  which  a  man  sells  to  another  goods  which  do  not  belong 
to  him  ;  they  are  a  real  depravation  of  morality,  inasmuch  as 
they  embolden  to  commit  crimes  through  the  hope  of  expi- 
ating them  ;  wherefore,  they  have  been  the  real  cause  of  all 
the  evils  by  which  the  people  among  whom  those  expiatory 
practices  were  used,  have  been  continually  tormented. 

Q.  Does  the  law  of  nature  order  sincerity  ? 

A.  Yes  ;  for  lying,  perfidy,  and  perjury  create  distrust,  quar- 


THE  LAW   OF  NATURE.  2OJ 

rels,  hatred,  revenge,  and  a  crowd  of  evils  among  men.  which 
tend  to  their  common  destruction  ;  while  sincerity  and  fidelity 
establish  confidence,  concord,  and  peace,  besides  the  infinite 
good  resulting  from  such  a  state  of  things  to  society. 

Q.  Does  it  prescribe  mildness  and  modesty  ? 

A.    Yes ;  for  harshness  and  obduracy,  by  alienating  from  us  \  Y 
the  hearts  of  other  men,  give  them  an  inclination  to  hurt  us ;  / 
ostentation  and  vanity,  by  wounding  their  self-love  and  jeal-  j  * 
ousy,  occasion  us  to  miss  the  end  of  a  real  utility. v 

Q.  Does  it  prescribe  humility  as  a  virtue  ? 

A.  No  ;  for  it  is  a  propensity  in  the  human  heart  to  despise 
secretly  everything  that  presents  to  it  the  idea  of  weakness ; 
and  self-debasement  encourages  pride  and  oppression  in 
others ;  the  balance  must  be  kept  in  equipoise. 

Q.  You  have  reckoned  simplicity  of  manners  among  the 
social  virtues  ;  what  do  you  understand  by  that  word  ? 

A.  I  mean  the  restricting  our  wants  and  desires  to  what  is 
truly  useful  to  the  existence  of  the  citizen  and  his  family  ;  that 
is  to  say,  the  man  of  simple  manners  has  but  few  wants,  and 
lives  content  with  a  little.  S^*"^  °^  ft^^-*-^-<  •-yu-  &>  fri,  U-t 

Q.  How  is  this  virtue  prescribed  to  us  ? 

A.  By  the  numerous  advantages  which  the  practice  of  it 
procures  to  the  individual  and  to  society ;  for  the  man  whose 
wants  are  few,  is  free  at  once  from  a  crowd  of  cares,  perplex- 
ities, and  labors  ;  he  avoids  many  quarrels  and  contests  arising 
from  avidity  and  a  desire  of  gain  ;  he  spares  himself  the  anxiety 
of  ambition,  the  inquietudes  of  possession,  and  the  uneasiness 
of  losses;  finding  superfluity  everywhere,  he  is  the  real  rich 
man ;  always  content  with  what  he  has,  he  is  happy  at  little 
expense  ;  and  other  men,  not  fearing  any  competition  from 
him,  leave  him  in  quiet,  and  are  disposed  to  render  him  the 
services  he  should  stand  in  need  of.  And  if  this  virtue  of  sim- 
plicity extends  to  a  whole  people,  they  insure  to  themselves 
abundance ;  rich  in  everything  they  do  not  consume,  they  ac- 
quire immense  means  of  exchange  and  commerce  ;  they  work, 
fabricate,  and  sell  at  a  lower  price  than  others,  and  attain  tq  __ 
all  kinds  of  prosperity,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  l**^",,  **»  e-~t~»  • 

Q.  What  is  the  vice  contrary  to  this  virtue  ? 

A.  It  is  cupidity  and  luxury. 

Q.  Is  luxury  a  vice  in  the  individual  and  in  society  ? 


208  THE   LAW   OF  NATURE. 

A.  Yes,  and  to  that  degree,  that  it  may  be  said  to  include 
all  the  others  ;  for  the  man  who  stands  in  need  of  many  things, 
imposes  thereby  on  himself  all  the  anxiety,  and  submits  to  all 
the  means  just  or  unjust  of  acquiring  them.  Does  he  possess 
an  enjoyment,  he  covets  another ;  and  in  the  bosom  of  super- 
fluity, he  is  never  rich ;  a  commodious  dwelling  is  not  suf- 
ficient for  him,  he  must  have  a  beautiful  hotel ;  not  content  with 
a  plenteous  table,  he  must  have  rare  and  costly  viands :  he 
must  have  splendid  furniture,  expensive  clothes,  a  train  of  at- 
tendants, horses,  carriages,  women,  theatrical  representations 
and  games.  Now,  to  supply  so  many  expenses,  much  money 
must  be  had  ;  and  he  looks  on  every  method  of  procuring  it  as 
good  and  even  necessary ;  at  first  he  borrows,  afterwards  he 
steals,  robs,  plunders,  turns  bankrupt,  is  at  war  with  every  one, 
ruins  and  is  ruined. 

Should  a  nation  be  involved  in  luxury,  it  occasions  on  a  larger 
scale  the  same  devastations ;  by  reason  that  it  consumes  its  en- 
tire produce,  it  finds  itself  poor  even  with  abundance  ;  it  has 
nothing  to  sell  to  foreigners ;  its  manufactures  are  carried  on 
at  a  great  expense,  and  are  sold  too  dear ;  it  becomes  tributary  , 
for  everything  it  imports ;  it  attacks  externally  its  consider- 
ation, power,  strength,  and  means  of  defence  and  preservation, 
while  internally  it  undermines  and  falls  into  the  dissolution 
of  its  members.  All  its  citizens  being  covetous  of  enjoyments, 
are  engaged  in  a  perpetual  struggle  to  obtain  them  ;  all  injure 
or  are  near  injuring  themselves  ;  and  hence  arise  those  habits 
and  actions  of  usurpation,  which  constitute  what  is  denomin- 
ated moral  corruption,  intestine  war  between  citizen  and 
citizen.  From  luxury  arises  avidity,  from  avidity,  invasion  by 
violence  and  perfidy ;  from  luxury  arises  the  iniquity  of  the 
judge,  the  venality  of  the  witness,  the  improbity  of  the  husband, 
the  prostitution  of  the  wife,  the  obduracy  of  parents,  the  in- 
gratitude of  children,  the  avarice  of  the  master,  the  dishonesty 
of  the  servant,  the  dilapidation  of  the  administrator,  the  per- 
versity of  the  legislator,  lying,  perfidy,  perjury,  assassination, 
and  all  the  disorders  of  the  social  state  ;  so  that  it  was  with  a 
profound  sense  of  truth,  that  ancient  moralists  have  laid  the 
basis  of  the  social  virtues  on  simplicity  of  manners,  restriction 
of  wants,  and  contentment  with  a  little ;  and  a  sure  way  of 
knowing  the  extent  of  a  man's  virtues  and  vices  is,  to  find  out 


THE    LAW    OF    NATURE.  2CX) 

if  his  expenses  are  proportionate  to  his  fortune,  and  calcu- 
late, from  his  want  of  money,  his  probity,  his  integrity  in 
fulfilling  his  engagements,  his  devotion  to  the  public  weal, 
and  his  sincere  or  pretended  love  of  his  country. 

Q.  What  do  you  mean  by  the  word  country  ? 

A.  I  mean  the  community  of  citizens  who,  united  by  frater- 
nal sentiments,  and  reciprocal  wants,  make  of  their  respective 
strength  one  common  force,  the  reaction  of  which  on  each  of 
them  assumes  the  noble  and  beneficent  character  of  paternity. 
In  society,  citizens  form  a  bank  of  interest ;  in  our  country  we 
form  a  family  of  endearing  attachments ;  it  is  charity,  the  love 
of  one's  neighbor  extended  to  a  whole  nation.  Now  as  charity 
cannot  be  separated  from  justice,  no  member  of  the  family  can 
pretend  to  the  enjoyment  of  its  advantages,  except  in  propor- 
tion to  his  labor ;  if  he  consumes  more  than  it  produces,  he 
necessarily  encroaches  on  his  fellow-citizens ;  and  it  is  only  by 
consuming  less  than  what  he  produces'or  possesses,  that  he 
can  acquire  the  means  of  making  sacrifices  and  being  generous. 

Q.  What  do  you  conclude  from  all  this  ? 

A.  I  conclude  from  it  that  all  the  social  virtues  are  only  the 
habitude  of  actions  useful  to  society  and  to  the  individual  who 
practices  them  ;  That  they  refer  to  the  physical  object  of  man's 
preservation ;  That  nature  having  implanted  in  us  the  want  of 
that  preservation,  has  made  a  law  to  us  of  all  its  consequences, 
and  a  crime  of  everything  that  deviates  from  it ;  That  we  carry 
in  us  the  seed  of  every  virtue,  and  of  every  perfection ;  That  it 
only  requires  to  be  developed ;  That  we  are  only  happy  inas- 
much as  we  observe  the  rules  established  by  nature  for  the  end 
of  our  preservation;  And  that  all  wisdom,  all  perfection,  all 
law,  all  virtue,  all  philosophy,  consist  in  the  practice  of  these 
axioms  founded  on  our  own  organization  : 

Preserve  thyself;  Instruct  thyself ;  Moderate  thyself ; 
Live  for  thy  fellow  citizens,  that  they  may  live  for  thee. 


VOLNEY'S   ANSWER  TO  DR.  PRIESTLY  * 


SIR. —  I  received  in  due  time  your  pamphlet  on  the  increase 
of  infidelity,  together  with  the  note  without  date  which  accom- 
panied it.f  My  answer  has  been  delayed  by  the  incidents  of 
business,  and  even  by  ill  health,  which  you  will  surely  excuse : 
this  delay  has,  besides,  no  inconvenience  in  it.  The  question 
between  us  is  not  of  a  very  urgent  nature  :  the  world  would 
not  go  on  less  well  with  or  without  my  answer  as  with  or  with- 
out your  book.  I  might,  indeed,  have  dispensed  with  returning 
you  any  answer  at  all ;  and  I  should  have  been  warranted  in 
so  doing,  by  the  manner  in  which  you  have  stated  the  debate, 
and  by  the  opinion  pretty  generally  received  that,  oji_certain 
occasions,  and  with  certain  persons,  the  most  noble  reply  is 
silence.  You  seem  to  have  been  aware  of  this  yourself,  con- 
sidering the  extreme  precautions  you  have  taken  to  deprive 
me  of  this  resource ;  but  as  according  to  our  French  customs, 
any  answer  is  an  act  of  civility,  I  am  not  willing  to  concede  the 
advantage  of  politeness  —  besides,  although  silence  is  some- 
times very  significant,  its  eloquence  is  not  understood  by  every 
one,  and  the  public  which  has  not  leisure  to  analyze  disputes 
(often  of  little  interest)  has  a  reasonable  right  to  require  at 
least  some  preliminary  explanations  ;  reserving  to  itself,  should 
the  discussion  degenerate  into  the  recriminative  clamors  of  an 
irritated  self-love,  to  allow  the  right  of  silence  to  him  in  whom 
it  becomes  the  virtue' of  moderation. 

I  have  read,  therefore,  your  animadversions  on  my  Ruins, 
which  you  are  pleased  to  class  among  the  writings  of  modern 

*  In  1797,  Dr.  Priestly  published  a  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  Observation  on  the  in- 
crease of  infidelity,  with  animadversions  upon  the  writings  of  several  modern 
unbelievers,  and  especially  the  Ruins  of  Mr.  Volney."  The  motto  to  this  tract  was  : 

"  Minds  of  little  penetration  rest  naturally  on  the  surface  of  things.  They  do 
not  like  to  pierce  deep  into  them,  for  fear  of  labor  and  trouble  ;  sometimes  still 
more  for  fear  of  truth." 

This  Letter  is  an  answer  from  Volney,  taken  from  the  Anti-Jacobin  Review  of 
March  and  April,  1799. 

t  Dr.  Priestly  sent  his  pamphlet  to  Volney,  desiring  his  answer  to  the  strictures 
on  his  opinions  in  his  Ruins  of  Empires. 


212  VOLNEY  S    LETTER 

unbelievers,  and  since  you  absolutely  insist  on  my  expressing 
my  opinion  before  the  public,  I  shall  now  fulfill  this  rather 
disagreeable  task  with  all  possible  brevity,  for  the  sake  of 
economizing  the  time  of  our  readers.  In  the  first  place,  sir, 
it  appears  evidently,  from  your  pamphlet,  that  your  design  is 
less  to  attack  my  book  than  my  personal  and  moral  character ; 
and  in  order  that  the  public  may  pronounce  with  accuracy  on 
this  point,  I  submit  several  passages  fitted  to  throw  light  on 
the  subject. 

You  say,  in  the  preface  of  your  discourses,  p.  12,  "  There  are, 
however,  unbelievers  more  ignorant  than  Mr.  Paine,  Mr. 
Volney,  Lequino,  and  others  in  France  say,"  &c. 

Also  in  the  preface  of  your  present  observations,  p.  20.  "  I  can 
truly  say  that  in  the  writings  of  Hume,  Mr.  Gibbon,  Voltaire, 
Mr.  Volney  —  there  is  nothing  of  solid  argument :  all  abound 
in  gross  mistakes  and  misrepresentations."  Idem,  p.  38  — 
"  Whereas  had  he  (Mr.  Volney)  given  attention  to  the  history 
of  the  times  in  which  Christianity  was  promulgated.  .  .  .he 
could  have  no  more  doubt .  .  .  &c.,  it  is  as  much  in  vain  to 
argue  with  such  a  person  as  this,  as  with  a  Chinese  or  even  a 
Hottentot." 

Idem,  p.  119  —  "  Mr.  Volney,  if  we  mayjudgefrom  his  numer- 
ous quotations  of  ancient  writers  in  all  the  learned  languages, 
oriental  as  well  as  occidental,  must  be  acquainted  with  all ; 
for  he  makes  no  mention  of  any  translation,  and  yet  if  we  judge 
from  this  specimen  of  his  knowledge  of  them,  he  cannot  have 
the  smallest  tincture  of  that  of  the  Hebrew  or  even  of  the 
Greek." 

And,  at  last,  after  having  published  and  posted  me  in  your 
very  title  page,  as  an  unbeliever  and  an  infidel ;  after  having 
pointed  me  out  in  your  motto  as  one  of  those  superficial  spirits 
who  know  no.t  how  to  find  out,  and  are  unwilling  to  encounter, 
truth ;  you  add,  p.  124,  immediately  after  an  article  in  which 
you  speak  of  me  under  all  these  denominations  — 

"The  progress  of  infidelity,  in  the  present  age,  is  attended 
with  a  circumstance  which  did  not  so  frequently  accompany  it 
in  any  former  period,  at  least,  in  England,  which  is,  that  un- 
believers in  revelation  generally  proceed  to  the  disbelief  of 
the  being  and  providence  of  God  so  as  to  become  properly 
Atheists."  So  that,  according  to  you,  I  am  a  Chinese,  a  Hotten- 


TO   DR.   PRIESTLY.  2IJ 

tot,  an  unbeliever,  an  Atheist,  an  ignoramus,  a  man  of  no 
sincerity;  whose  writings  are  full  of  nothing  but  gross  mis- 
takes and  misrepresentations.  Now  I  ask  you,  sir,  What  has 
all  this  to  do  with  the  main  question  ?  What  has  my  book  in 
common  with  my  person  ?  And  how  can  you  hold  any  con- 
verse with  a  man  of  such  bad  connexions  ?  In  the.  second 
place,  your  invitation,  or  rather,  your  summons  to  me,  to  point 
out  the  mistakes  which  /  think  you  have  made  with  respect  to 
my  opinions,  suggest  to  me  several  observations. 

First.  You  suppose  that  the  public  attaches  a  high  import- 
ance to  your  mistakes  and  to  my  opinions :  but  I  cannot  act 
upon  a  supposition.  Am  I  not  an  unbeliever  ? 

Secondly.  You  say,  p.  18,  that  the  public  will  expect  it  from 
me:  Where  are  the  powers  by  which  you  make  the  public 
speak  and  act  ?  Is  this  also  a  revelation  ? 

Thirdly.  You  require  me  to  point  out  your  mistakes.  I  do 
not  know  that  I  am  under  any  such  obligation  :  I  have  not  re- 
proached you  with  them  ;  it  is  not,  indeed,  very  correct  to 
ascribe  to  me,  by  selection  or  indiscriminately,  as  you  have 
done,  all  the  opinions  scattered  through  my  book,  since,  having 
introduced  many  different  persons,  I  was  under  the  necessity 
of  making  them  deliver  different  sentiments,  according  to  their 
different  characters.  The  part  which  belongs  to  me  is  that  of 
a  traveler,  resting  upon  the  ruins  and  meditating  on  the  causes 
of  the  misfortunes  of  the  human  race.  To  be  consistent  with 
yourself  you  ought  to  have  assigned  to  me  that  of  the  Hotten- 
tot or  Samoyde  savage,  who  argues  with  the  Doctors,  chap, 
xxiii,  and  I  should  have  accepted  it ;  you  have  preferred  that 
of  the  erudite  historian,  chap,  xxii,  nor  do  I  look  upon  this  as 
a  mistake  ;  I  discover  on  the  contrary,  an  insidious  design  to 
engage  me  in  a  duel  of  self-love  before  the  public,  wherein  you 
would  excite  the  exclusive  interest  of  the  spectators  by  sup- 
porting the  cause  which  they  approve ;  while  the  task  which 
you  would  impose  on  me,  would  only,  in  the  event  of  success, 
be  attended  with  sentiments  of  disapprobation.  Such  is  your 
artful  purpose,  that,  in  attacking  me  as  doubting  the  existence 
of  Jesus,  you  might  secure  to  yourself,  by  surprise,  the  favor 
of  eVery  Christian  sect,  although  your  own  incredulity  in  his 
divine  nature  is  not  less  subversive  of  Christianity  than  the 
profane  opinion,  which  does  not  find  in  history  the  proof 


214  VOLNEY'S  LETTER 

required  by  the  English  law  to  establish  a  fact :  to  say  nothing 
of  the  extraordinary  kind  of  pride  assumed  in  the  silent,  but 
palpable,  comparison  of  yourself  to  Paul  and  to  Christ,  by 
likening  your  labors  to  theirs  as  tending  to  the  same  object, 
p.  10,  preface.  Nevertheless,  as  the  first  impression  of  an 
attack  always  confers  an  advantage,  you  have  some  ground 
for  expecting  you  may  obtain  the  apostolic  crown ;  unfor- 
tunately for  your  purpose  I  entertain  no  disposition  to  that 
of  martrydom  :  and  however  glorious  it  might  be  to  me  to  fall 
under  the  arm  of  him  who  has  overcome  Hume,  Gibbon, 
Voltaire  and  even  Frederick  II.,  I  find  myself  under  the  ne- 
cessity of  declining  your  theological  challenge,  for  a  number 
of  substantial  reasons. 

1.  Because,  to  religious  quarrels  there  is  no  end,  since  the 
prejudices  of  infancy  and  education  almost  unavoidably  ex- 
clude impartial   reasoning,  and  besides,  the  vanity  of  the 
champions  becomes  committed  by  the  very  publicity  of  the 
contest,  never  to  give  up  a  first  assertion,  whence  result  a 
spirit  of  sectarism  and  faction. 

2.  Because  no  one  has  a  right  to  ask  of  me  an  account  of  my 
religious  opinions.    Every  inquisition  of  this  kind  is  a  pre- 
tension to  sovereignty,  a  first  step  towards  persecution ;  and 
the  tolerant  spirit  of  this  country,  which  you  invoke,  has  much 
les^  in  view  to  engage  men  to  speak,  than  to  invite  them  to 
be  silent. 

3.  Because,  supposing  I  do  hold  the  opinions  you  attribute 
to  me,  I  wish  not  to  engage  my  vanity  so  as  never  to  retract, 
nor  to  deprive   myself  of  the   resource  of  a  conversion  on 
some  furture  day  after  more  ample  information. 

4.  And  because,  reverend  sir,  if,  in  the  support  of  your  own 
thesis,    you    should   happen  to  be   discomfited    before  the 
Christian  audience,  it  would  be  a  dreadful  scandal ;  and  I  will 
not  be  a  cause  for  scandal,  even  for  the  sake  of  good. 

5.  Because  in  this  metaphysical  contest  our  arms  are  too 
unequal ;    you  speaking    in  your  mother  tongue,    which  I 
scarcely  lisp,  might  bring  forth  huge  volumes,  while  I  could 
hardly  oppose  pages  ;  and  the  public,  who  would  read  neither 
production,  might  take  the  weight  of  the  books  for  that  of 
reasoning. 

6.  And  because,  being  endowed  with  the  gift  of  faith  in  a 


TO   DR.  PRIESTLY.  215 

pretty  sufficient  quantity,  you  might  swallow  in  a  quarter  of 
an  hour  more  articles  than  my  logic  would  digest  in  a  week. 

7.  Because  again,  if  you  were  to  oblige  me  to  attend  your 
sermons,  as  you  have  compelled  me  to  read  your  pamphlet, 
the  congregation  would  never  believe  that  a  man  powdered 
and  adorned  like  any  worldling,  could  be  in  the  right  against 
a  man  dressed  out  in  a  large  hat,  with  straight  hair*  and  a 
mortified  countenance,  although  the  gospel,  speaking  of  the 
pharisees  of  other  times,  who  were  unpowdered,  says  that 
when  one  fasts  he  must  anoint  his  head  and  wash  his  face.f 

8.  Because,  finally,  a  dispute  to  one  having  nothing  else  to  do 
would  be  a  gratification,  while  to  me,  who  can  employ  my  time 
better,  it  would  be  an  absolute  loss. 

I  shall  not  then,  reverend  sir,  make  you  my  confessor  in 
matters  of  religion,  but  I  will  disclose  to  you  my  opinion,  as  a 
man  of  letters,  on  the  composition  of  your  book.  Having  in 
former  days,  read  many  works  of  theology,  I  was  curious  to 
learn  whether  by  any  chemical  process  you  had  discovered  real 
beings  in  that  world  of  invisibles.  Unfortunately,  I  am  obliged 
to  declare  to  the  public,  which,  according  to  your  expression, 
p.  19,  "  hopes  to  be  instructed,  to  be  led  into  truth,  and  not 
into  error  by  me,"  that  I  have  not  found  in  your  book  a  single 
new  argument,  but  the  mere  repetition  of  what  is  told  over 
and  over  in  thousands  of  volumes,  the  whole  fruit  of  which 
has  been  to  procure  for  their  authors  a  cursory  mention  in  the 
dictionary  of  heresies.  You  everywhere  lay  down  that  as 
proved  which  remains  to  be  proved ;  with  this  peculiarity,  that, 
as  Gibbon  says,  firing  away  your  double  battery  against  those 
who  believe  too  much,  and  those  who  believe  too  little,  you 
hold  out  your  own  peculiar  sensations,  as  to  the  precise  crite- 
rion of  truth  ;  so  that  we  must  all  be  just  of  your  size  in  order 
to  pass  the  gate  of  that  New  Jerusalem  which  you  are  building. 
After  this,  your  reputation  as  a  divine  might  have  become 
problematical  with  me  ;  but  recollecting  the  principle  of  the 
association  of  ideas  so  well  developed  by  Locke,  whom  you 
hold  in  estimation,  and  whom,  for  that  reason  I  am  happy  to 
cite  to  you,  although  to  him  I  owe  that  pernicious  use  of  my 

*  Dr.  Priestly  has  discarded  his  wig  since  he  went  to  America,  and  wears  his 
own  hair.    Editor  A.  J.  Reveiw. 
fSt.  Matthew,  Chapter  VI.  verses  16  and  17. 


216  VOLNEY'S  LETTER 

understanding  which  makes  me  disbelieve  what  I  do  not 
comprehend  —  I  perceive  why  the  public  having  originally 
attached  the  idea  of  talents  to  the  name  of  Mr.  Priestly,  doctor 
in  chemistry,  continued  by  habit  to  associate  it  with  the  name 
of  Mr.  Priestly,  doctor  in  divinity  ;  which,  however,  is  not  the 
same  thing  :  an  association  of  ideas  the  more  vicious  as  it  is 
liable  to  be  moved  inversely.*  Happily  you  have  yourself 
raised  a  bar  of  separation  between  your  admirers,  by  advising 
us  in  the  first  page  of  your  preface,  that  your  present  book  is 
especially  destined  for  believers.  To  cooperate,  however,  with 
you,  sir,  in  this  judicious  design,  I  must  observe  that  it  is 
necessary  to  retrench  two  passages,  seeing  they  afford  the 
greatest  support  to  the  arguments  of  unbelievers. 

You  say,  p.  15,  "  What  is  manifestly  contrary  to  natural  rea- 
son cannot  be  received  by  it;" — and  p.  62,  "With  respect  to 
intellect,  men  and  brute  animals  are  born  in  the  same  state, 
having  the  same  external  senses,  which  are  the  only  inlets  to 
all  ideas,  and  consequently  the  source  of  all  the  knowledge 
and  of  all  the  mental  habits  they  ever  acquire." 

Now  if  you  admit,  with  Locke,  and  with  us  infidels,  that 
every  one  has  the  right  of  rejecting  whatever  is  contrary  to 
his  natural  reason,  and  that  all  our  ideas  and  all  our  knowl- 
edge are  acquired  only  by  the  inlets  of  our  external  senses  ; 
What  becomes  of  the  system  of  revelation,  and  of  that  order 
of  things  in  times  past,  which  is  so  contradictory  to  that  of 
the  time  present  ?  unless  we  consider  it  as  a  dream  of  the 
human  brain  during  the  state  of  superstitious  ignorance. 

With  these  two  single  phrases,  I  could  overturn  the  whole 
edifice  of  your  faith.  Dread  not,  however,  sir,  in  me  such 
overflowing  zeal.  For  the  same  reason  that  I  have  not  the 
frenzy  of  martyrdom,  I  have  not  that  of  making  proselytes.  It 
becomes  those  ardent,  or  rather  acrimonious  tempers,  who 
mistake  the  violence  of  their  sentiments  for  the  enthusiasm 
of  truth ;  the  ambition  of  noise  and  rumor,  for  the  love  of 

*  Mr.  Blair,  doctor  of  divinity,  and  Mr.  Black,  doctor  in  chemistry,  met  at  the 
coffee  house  in  Edinburg :  a  new  theological  pamphlet  written  by  doctor  Priestly 
was  thown  upon  the  table,  "  Really."  said  Dr.  Blair,  "  this  man  had  better  confine 
himself  to  chemistry",  for  he  is  absolutely  ignorant  in  theology:"—"!  beg  your 
pardon,"  answered  Dr.  Black,  "he  is  in  the  right,  he  is  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  he 
ought  to  adhere  to  his  profession,  for  in  truth  he  knows  nothing  of  chemistry." 


TO   DR.   PRIESTLY.  217 

glory  ;  and  for  the  love  of  their  neighbor,  the  detestation  of 
his  opinions,  and  the  secret  desire  of  dominion. 

As  for  me,  who  have  not  received  from  nature  the  turbulent 
qualities  of  an  apostle,  and  never  sustained  in  Europe  the 
character  of  a  dissenter,  I  am  come  to  America  neither  to 
agitate  the  conscience  of  men,  nor  to  form  a  sect,  nor  to  es- 
tablish a  colony,  in  which,  under  the  pretext  of  religion,  I 
might  erect  a  little  empire  to  myself.  I  have  never  been 
seen  evangelizing  my  ideas,  either  in  temples  or  in  public 
meetings.  I  have  never  likewise  practiced  that  quackery  of 
beneficence,  by  which  a  certain  divine,  imposing  a  tax  upon 
the  generosity  of  the  public,  procures  for  himself  the  honors 
of  a  more  numerous  audience,  and  the  merit  of  distributing 
at  his  pleasure  a  bounty  which  costs  him  nothing,  and  for 
which  he  receives  grateful  thanks  dexterously  stolen  from  the 
original  donors. 

Either  in  the  capacity  of  a  stranger,  or  in  that  of  a  citizen,  a 
sincere  friend  to  peace,  I  carry  into  society  neither  the  spirit 
of  dissension,  nor  the  desire  of  commotion;  and  because  I  re- 
spect in  every  one  what  I  wish  him  to  respect  in  me,  the 
name  of  liberty  is  in  my  mind  nothing  else  but  the  syn- 
onyma  of  justice. 

As  a  man,  whether  from  moderation  or  indolence,  a  spec- 
tator of  the  world  rather  than  an  actor  in  it,  I  am  every  day 
less  tempted  to  take  on  me  the  management  of  the  minds  or 
bodies  of  men :  it  is  sufficient  for  an  individual  to  govern  his 
own  passions  and  caprices. 

If  by  one  of  these  caprices,  I  am  induced  to  think  it  may  be 
useful,  sometimes,  to  publish  my  reflections,  I  do  it  without 
obstinacy  or  pretension  to  that  implicit  faith,  the  ridicule  of 
which  you  desire  to  impart  to  me,  p.  123.  My  whole  book  of 
the  Ruins  which  you  treat  so  ungratefully,  since  you  thought 
it  amusing,  p.  122,  evidently  bears  this  character.  By  means 
of  the  contrasted  opinions  I  have  scattered  through  it,  it 
breathes  that  spirit  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  which  appears  to 
me  the  best  suited  to  the  weakness  of  the  human  mind,  and  the 
most  adapted  to  its  improvement,  inasmuch  as  it  always  leaves 
a  door  open  to  new  truths ;  while  the  spirit  of  dogmatism  and 
immovable  belief,  limiting  our  progress  to  a  first  received 
opinion,  binds  us  at  hazard,  and  without  resource,  to  the  yoke 


218  VOLNEY'S  LETTER 

of  error  or  falsehood,  and  occasions  the  most  serious  mis- 
chiefs to  society  ;  since  by  combining  with  the  passions,  it 
engenders  fanaticism,  which,  sometimes  misled  and  sometimes 
misleading,  though  always  intolerant  and  despotic,  attacks 
whatever  is  not  of  its  own  nature ;  drawing  upon  itself  perse- 
cution when  it  is  weak,  and  practising  persecution  when  it  is 
powerful ;  establishing  a  religion  of  terror,  which  annihilates 
the  faculties,  and  vitiates  the  conscience:  so  that,  whether 
under  a  political  or  a  religious  aspect,  the  spirit  of  doubt  is 
friendly  to  all  ideas  of  liberty,  truth,  or  genius,  while  a  spirit 
of  confidence  is  connected  with  the  ideas  of  tyranny,  servility, 
and  ignorance. 

If,  as  is  the  fact,  our  own  experience  and  that  of  others  daily 
teaches  us  that  what  at  one  time  appeared  true,  afterwards 
appeared  demonstrably  false,  how  can  we  connect  with  our 
judgments  that  blind  and  presumptuous  confidence  which 
pursues  those  of  others  with  so  much  hatred  ? 

No  doubt  it  is  reasonable,  and  even  honest,  to  act  according 
to  our  present  feelings  and  conviction  :  but  if  these  feelings 
and  their  causes  do  vary  by  the  very  nature  of  things,  how 
dare  we  impose  upon  ourselves  or  others  an  invariable  con- 
viction ?  How,  above  all,  dare  we  require  this  conviction  in 
cases  where  there  is  really  no  sensation,  as  happens  in  purely 
speculative  questions,  in  which  no  palpable  fact  can  be  pre- 
sented ? 

Therefore,  when  opening  the  book  of  nature,  (a  more  au- 
thentic one  and  more  easy  to  be  read  than  leaves  of  paper 
blackened  over  with  Greek  or  Hebrew,)  and  when  I  reflected 
that  the  slightest  change  in  the  material  world  has  not  been 
in  times  past,  nor  is  at  present  effected  by  the  difference  of  so 
many  religions  and  sects  which  have  appeared  and  still  exist 
on  the  globe,  and  that  the  course  of  the  seasons,  the  path  of 
the  sun,  the  return  of  rain  and  drought,  are  the  same  for  the 
inhabitants  of  each  country,  whether  Christians,  Mussulmans, 
Idolaters,  Catholics,  Protestants,  etc.,  I  am  induced  to  believe 
that  the  universe  is  governed  by  laws  of  wisdom  and  justice, 
very  different  from  those  which  human  ignorance  and  intol- 
erance would  enact. 

And  as  in  living  with  men  of  very  opposite  religious  per- 
suasions, I  have  had  occasion  to  remark  that  their  manners 


TO  DR.   PRIESTLY.  2IQ 

were,  nevertheless,  very  analagous  ;  that  is  to  say,  among  the 
different  Christian  sects,  among  the  Mahometans,  and  even 
among  those  people  who  were  of  no  sect,  I  have  found  men 
who  practise  all  the  virtues,  public  and  private,  and  that  too 
without  affectation ;  while  others,  who  were  incessantly  de- 
claiming of  God  and  religion,  abandoned  themselves  to  every 
vicious  habit  which  their  belief  condemned,  I  thereby  became 
convinced  that  Ethics,  the  doctrines  of  morality,  are  the  only 
essential,  as  they  are  only  demonstrable,  part  of  religion. 
And  as,  by  your  own  avowal,  the  only  end  of  religion  is  to 
render  men  better,  in  order  to  add  to  their  happiness,  p.  62, 1 
have  concluded  that  there  are  but  two  great  systems  of  reli- 
gion in  the  world,  that  of  good  sense  and  beneficence,  and 
that  of  malice  and  hypocrisy. 

In  closing  this  letter,  I  find  myself  embarrassed  by  the  na- 
ture of  the  sentiment  which  I  ought  to  express  to  you,  for  in 
declaring  as  you  have  done,  p.  123,  that  you  do  not  care  for 
the  contempt  of  such  as  me  *  (ignorant  as  you  were  of  my 
opinion),  you  tell  me  plainly  that  you  do  not  care  for  their 
esteem.  I  leave,  therefore,  to  your  discernment  and  taste  to 
determine  the  sentiment  most  congenial  to  my  situation  and 
your  desert. 

C.  F.  VOLNEY. 

Philadelphia,  March  10,  1797. 

P.  S.  I  do  not  accompany  this  public  letter  with  a  private 
note  to  Dr.  Priestly,  because  communications  of  that  nature 
carry  an  appearance  of  bravado,  which,  even  in  exercising 
the  right  of  a  necessary  defence,  appear  to  me  imcompatible 
with  decency  and  politeness. 

*  "And  what  does  it  do  for  me  here,  except,  perhaps,  expose  me  to  the  contempt 
of  such  men  as  Mr.  Volney,  which,  however,  I  feel  myself  pretty  well  able  to 
bear?"  p.  124.  This  language  is  the  more  surprising,  as  Dr.  Priestly  never 
received  anything  from  me  but  civilities.  In  the  year  1791  I  sent  him  a  disserta- 
tion of  mine  on  the  Chronology  of  the  Ancients,  in  consequence  of  some  charts 
which  he  had  himself  published.  His  only  answer  was  to  abuse  me  in  a  pamphlet 
in  1792.  After  this  first  abuse,  on  meeting  me  here  last  winter,  he'  procured  me 
an  invitation  to  dine  with  his  friend  Mr.  Russell,  at  whose  house  he  lodged  ;  after 
having  shown  me  polite  attention  at  that  dinner,  he  abuses  me  in  his  new  pamph- 
let. After  this  second  abuse  he  meets  me  in  Spruce  Street,  and  takes  me  by  the 
hand  as  a  friend,  and  speaks  of  me  in  a  large  company  under  that  denomination. 
Now  I  ask  the  public,  what  kind  of  a  man  is  Dr.  Priestly? 


THE  ZODIACAL  SIGNS  AND   CONSTELLATIONS. 

(Compiled  by  the  publisher  from  recognized  authorities.) 


THE  Zodiac  is  an  imaginary  girdle  or  belt  in  the  celestial  sphere,  which  ex- 
tends about  eight  degrees  on  each  side  of  the  Ecliptic.  It  is  divided  into 
twelve  portions,  called  the  signs  of  the  Zodiac,  within  which  all  the  planets  make 
their  revolutions.  The  Zodiac  is  so  called  from  the  animals  represented  upon  it, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  originated  in  remote  ages  and  in  latitudes  where  the 
camel  and  elephant  were  comparatively  unknown.  This  pictorial  representation 
of  the  zodiac  was  probably  the  origin,  as  M.  Dupuis  suggests,  of  the  Arabian  and 
Egyptian  adoration  of  animals  and  birds,  and  has  led  in  the  natural  progress  of 
events  to  the  adoration  of  images  by  both  Christians  and  pagans. 

"  The  Signs  of  the  Zodiac,  (says  Godfrey  Higgins  in  The  Anacalypsis,)  with 
the  exception  of  the  Scorpion,  which  was  exchanged  by  Dan  for  the  Eagle,  were 
carried  by  the  different  tribes  of  the  Israelites  on  their  standards  ;  and  Taurus, 
Leo,  Aquarius,  and  Scorpio  or  the  Eagle  — the  four  signs  of  Reuben,  Judah, 
Ephriam,  and  Dan  —  were  placed  at  the  four  corners,  (the  four  cardinal  points), 
of  their  encampment,  evidently  in  allusion  to  the  cardinal  points  of  the  sphere, 
the  equinoxes  and  solstices,  when  the  equinox  was  in  Taurus.  (See  Parkhust's 
Lexicon.)  These  coincidences  prove  that  this  religious  system  had  its  origin 
before  the  bull  ceased  to  be  an  equinoctial  sign,  and  prove  also,  that  the  religion 
of  Moses  was  originally  the  same  in  its  secret  mysteries  as  that  pf  the  Heathen, 
or,  if  my  reader  likes  it  better,  that  the  Heathen  secret  mysteries  were  the  same 
as  those  of  Moses." 

The  Ecliptic,  a  great  circle  of  the  sphere,  (shown  on  the  preceding  map  by  two 
parallel  lines),  is  supposed  to  be  drawn  through  the  middle  of  the  Zodiac,  cutting 
the  Equator  at  two  points,  (called  the  Equinoctial  points),  at  an  angle  with  the 
equinoctial  of  23°  28',  (the  sun's  greatest  declination),  and  is  the  path  which  the 
earth  is  supposed  to  describe  amidst  the  fixed  stars  in  performing  its  annual 
circuit  around  the  sun.  It  is  called  the  Ecliptic  because  the  eclipses  of  the  sun 
and  moon  always  occur  under  it. 

The  Signs  are  each  the  twelfth  part  of  the  Ecliptic  or  Zodiac,  (30°,)  and  are 
reckoned  from  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  ecliptic  and  equator  at  the  vernal 
equinox.  They  are  named  respectively  Aries,  Taurus,  Gemini,  Cancer,  Leo,  Virgo, 
Libra,  Scorpio,  Sagittarius,  Capricornus,  Aquarius,  Pisces.  These  names  are  bor- 
rowed from  the.  constellations  of  the  zodiac  of  the  same  denomination,  which 
corresponded  when  these  divisions  were  originally  made ;  but  in  consequence 
of  the  precession,  recession,  or  retrocession  of  the  equinoxes,  (about  50%,"  yearly, 
at  the  rate  of  about  73  years  to  a  degree,  displacing  an  entire  sign  in  about  2152 
years,  and  making  an  entire  revolution  of  the  equinoctial  in  about  25,868  years), 
the  positions  of  these  constellations  in  the  heavens  no  longer  correspond  with 
the  divisions  of  the  ecliptic  ofthe  same  name,  but  are  in  advance  of  them.  Thus, 
the  constellation  Aries  is  now  in  that  part  ofthe  ecliptic  called  Taurus,  and  the 
stars  of  Taurus  are  in  Gemini,  those  of  Gemini  in  Cancer,  and  so  on  throughout 
the  ecliptic. 

The  relative  positions  ofthe  signs  and  constellations  in  the  zodiac  and  ecliptic 
•eem  thus  to  have  gradually  changed  with  the  revolving  years  ;  and  the  worship 


Of      Astrological 

\,*'    ^v  ^—4  /       \   PERSIAN, 


Northern  Hemisphere. 

Translation. 


P61e  Nord 
Voye  Lact6e 

North  Pole. 
Milky  Way. 

Ours  ;  Sanglier  ;  Ane  ;    Bear  ;   Boar  ;    Ass 
Typhon    -        -                 Typhon. 
Poissons  -        -        -        Pisces  —  the  Fisli 

Hydre      - 

\,i,ir.,m,.ili-           -            Andromeda. 

Taureau 
Orion  ;  Nemrod 
Gemeaus 

Taurus  ;  Bull. 
Orion  ;  Nimrod. 
Gemini. 

Dragon  des  Hesperides  Dragon  of  the  Ht  •;• 
Vierge  ;  Eve  ;  Sybille  ;  Virgin  ;  Eve  ;  Sy 
Isis.  &c.                              Isis,  &c. 

Crab  ou  Cancer 

Crab  or  Cancer                       Bootes  ;  Adam  ;  Osiris  ;  Bootes  ;  Adam  ;  < 

Bellier;  Agneau  de 

Ram  :  Lamb  of  God  ;          |    Couronne         .        .        Corona  Borealis. 

Dieu 

Anes-                                  «Uro,,i«>        .        -           Hercules. 

Pers6e  ;  Cherubin  - 
Etable  d'louseph 
Lion          - 

Perseus  ;  Cherubim. 
Joseph's  Stable  ;  Auriga. 
Lion  ;  Leo. 

Serpent  d'Eve  ;  Ahri-    Eve's  Serpent  ;  .\ 
man;  Satan                     manes;  Serpci 

,*iew  of  the 

aven  of  the  Ancients 

'he  Mysteries  of  the 

ISH,  AND  CHRISTIAN 

LIGIONS. 


ies 


Southern  Hemisphere. 


Translation. 


Chien  ;  Sirius 

Dog  ;  Sirius.                        Corbeau  de  P> 

Eridau 

Eridanus. 

Verseau    - 

Baleine         - 

Whale;  Cetus. 

Nil     -        -        -        - 

Nile. 

Capricorne 

Coupe            - 

Crab  ;  Cup. 

Sagittaire 

Vaisseau  ;  Argo  ;  Arche 

Vessel  ;  Argo  ;  Navis  ; 

Voye  Lact6e 

Ark. 

Scorpion  - 

Catiopus 

Canopus. 

Balance 

Pole  Sud 

South  Pole. 

Noah's  Raven ;  Corvus 

Aquarius,  the  Water- 
bearer. 
Capricornus. 
Sagittarius,  the  Archer 
Milky  Way. 
Scorpio. 
Scales ;  Libra. 


APPENDIX. 

of  the  three  constellations,  Taurus,  Aries,  and  Pisces,  with  which  Christianity 
is  so  intimately  connected,  seems  to  have  changed  in  a  corresponding  degree. 
The  worship  of  the  bull  of  Egypt  — the  celestial  Taurus—  has  given  place  to  that 
of  the  lamb  of  Palestine  — the  celestial  Aries;  and  under  the  astronomical  em- 
blem Pisces— the  twelfth  sign  of  the  zodiac — the  dominant  faith  of  to-day  was 
appropriately  taught  by  the  twelve  apostolic  fishermen. 

It  is  from  one  of  these  chosen  fishermen,  St.  Peter,  that  the  Pope  of  Rome 
claims  to  have  derived  his  arbitrary  power  for  binding  and  loosing  on  earth 
those  who  are  to  be  bound  and  loosed  in  heaven.  (Matt,  xvi,  19.)  The  grave  re- 
sponsibility of  wielding  with  justice  and  equity  this  tremendous  power  over  the 
future  destiny  of  mankind,  seems  never  to  have  disconcerted  any  of  the  successors 
of  St.  Peter.  They  have  all  proved  to  be  equally  arrogant  and  intolerant,  zealous 
for  both  temporal  and  spiritual  domination,  and  merciless  to  those  who  have 
opposed  their  pretensions.  The  present  incumbent  of  the  papal  chair,  who  mod- 
estly claims  the  attribute  of  infallibility,  seems  proud  of  his  inherited  title,  The 
Great  Fisherman!  and  hopes  in  the  progress  of  time,  with  the  assistance  of  his 
monks,  bishops,  and  cardinals,  to  entangle  all  nations  in  his  net  of  faith,  and  to  dic- 
tate with  unquestioned  authority  the  religious  worship  of  the  entire  human  race. 

As  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes  still  continues  as  of  yore,  and  as  the  masses 
still  continue  credulous  and  devout,  they  may  in  succeeding  ages  be  again  called 
upon  to  worship  the  god  Apis,  when  the  sign  of  Taurus  shall  again  coincide  in 
the  zodiac  and  the  ecliptic  ;  and  Aries,  "  the  lamb  of  God,"  may  again  be  offered 
in  the  "  fullness  of  time"  as  a  sacrifice  for  mankind,  again  be  crucified,  and  again 
shed  his  redeeming  blood  to  wash  away  the  sins  of  a  believing  world. 

M.  Dupuis  has  satisfactorily  shown  in  The  History  of  all  Religions  that  the 
twelve  labors  of  the  god  and  saviour  Hercules  were  astronomical  allegories — the 
history  of  the  passage  of  the  sun  through  the  twelve  signs  of  the  zodiac  —  and 
these  labors  are  so  similar  to  the  sufferings  of  Jesus,  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Parkhurst 
has  been  obliged,  much  against  his  inclination,  to  acknowledge  that  they  "were 
types  of  what  the  real  Saviour  was  to  do  and  suffer."  (Parkhurst,  p.  47.)  An 
intimate  connection,  if  not  identity,  is  thus  shown  between  ancient  and  modern 
belief — between  the  paganism  of  the  past  and  the  orthodoxy  of  the  present. 

THE  ZODIACAL  SIGNS. 

ARIES,  the  Ram  :  (marked  T1.)  — A  northern  constellation,  usually  named  as  the 
first  sign  in  the  zodiac,  into  which,  when  the  sun  enters  at  the  vernal  equinox 
in  March,  the  days  and  nights  are  of  equal  length.  Aries  has  been  regarded  by  the 
devout  during  many  ages  as  the  celestial  representative,  visible  in  the  heavens, 
of"  the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world." 

TAURUS,  the  Bull:  (marked  thus,  y .)  —  The  second  sign  in  the  zodiac,  which  by 
the  Arabians  is  called  Ataur.  This  constellation  was  worshipped  for  ages  by  the 
idolatrous  Egyptians  as  the  heavenly  representative  of  their  god  Osiris ;  and 
derives  its  name,  according  to  Grecian  fable,  from  the  bull  into  which  Jupiter 
transformed  himself  in  order  to  carry  Europa  over  into  Crete ;  but  the  constella- 
tion was  probably  so  named  by  the  Egyptians  to  designate  that  period  of  the 
year,  (April),  in  which  cows  mostly  bring  forth  their  young. 

"  The  Rev.  Mr.  Maurice  in  his  work  on  the  antiquities  of  India,  has  shown 
that  the  May-day  festival  and  the  May-pole  of  Great  Britain  with  its  garlands, 
e(c.,  are  the  remains  of  an  ancient  festival  of  Egypt  and  India,  and  probably  of 
Phoenicia,  when  these  nations,  in  countries  very  distant,  and  from  times  very 
remote,  have  all,  with  one  consent,  celebrated  the  entrance  of  the  sun  into  the 
sign  of  Taurus  at  the  vernal  equinox." 


APPENDIX. 

GEMINI,  the  Twins :  (marked  thus,  n.)— A  zodiacal  constellation,  visible  in  May, 
containing  the  two  bright  stars  Castor  and  Pollux,  the  fabled  sons  of  Leda  and 
Jupiter,  who  during  their  lives  had  cleared  the  Hellespont  and  neighboring  seas 
of  pirates,  and  were  therefore  deemed  the  protectors  of  navigators  and  sailors. 

CANCER,  the  Crab:  (marked  thus,  °3.) — Is  the  fourth  sign  of  the  zodiac,  which 
the  sun  enters  on  the  aist  day  of  June,  and  is  thence  called  the  summer  solstice. 
According  to  Grecian  fable,  the  crab  was  transported  to  heaven  at  the  request  of 
Juno,  after  it  had  been  slain  by  Hercules  during  his  battle  with  the  serpent 
Python,  but  the  evident  design  of  the  name  is  to  represent  the  apparent  backward 
motion  of  the  sun  in  June,  which  is  said  to  resemble  the  motions  of  a  crab. 

LEO,  the  Lion:  (Q). —  Is  the  fifth  sign  in  the  zodiac,  and  contains  one  star  of 
the  first  magnitude,  called  Regulus,  or  Cor  Leonis —  the  Lion's  Heart.  The  fervid 
heat  of  July,  when  the  sun  has  attained  its  greatest  power,  is  now  symbolized  in 
our  almanacs  by  the  figure  of  an  enraged  lion  ;  and  the  feasts  or  sacrifices  for- 
merly celebrated  among  the  ancients  during  this  month,  in  honor  of  the  sun, 
(which  they  also  represented  under  the  form  of  a  lion,)  were  called  Leonitica. 
The  priests  who  performed  the  sacred  rites  were  called  Leones.  This  feast  was 
sometimes  called  Afithriaca,  because  Mithra  was  the  name  of  the  sun  among  the 
Persians.  The  sacred  writings  abound  with  references  to  the  "  king  of  beasts ;  " 
among  the  most  interesting  of  which  is  the  story  of  the  battle  between  the  lion 
and  Samson,  the  Jewish  Herculus  ;  while  the  most  wonderful  example  of  animal 
evolution  on  record  is  found  in  the  sixty-fifth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  where  we  are 
gravely  informed  that  "  the  lion  shall  eat  straw  like  the  bullock." 

VIRGO,  Virgin  Mother,  Venus,  Eve,  his,  &c. — (1IB). —  Is  the  sixth  sign  of  the 
zodiac,  which  the  sun  enters  about  the  aist  of  August.  The  myths  and  fables 
regarding  the  virgin  which  abound  among  all  nations  and  all  religions,  are  both 
various  and  voluminous,  and  we  may  add  somewhat  improbable.  They  all  agree, 
however,  in  this,  that  the  female,  shown  on  the  preceding  diagram,  holding  in  her 
right  hand  a  branch  of  ripened  fruit, — the  apples  of  Paradise, —  was  intended  to 
represent  the  reproductive  powers  of  nature, —  the  abundance,  satisfaction  and 
contentment  which  mortals  enjoy  during  the  happy  period  of  harvest. 

LIBRA,  the  Balance.  — The  seventh  sign  of  the  zodiac,  directly  opposite  to  Aries, 
from  which  it  is  distant  180°.  It  is  marked  thus  ^=,  after  the  manner  of  a  pair  of 
scales  ;  to  denote,  probably,  that  when  the  sun  arrives  at  this  part  of  the  ecliptic, 
the  days  and  nights  are  equal,  as  if  weighed  in  a  balance.  Hence  the  period  when 
the  sun  enters  Libra,  (about  September  2ist,)  is  called  the  Autumnal  equinox. 
On  the  asth  of  September  was  born  John  the  Baptist,  the  forerunner  of  his  cousin 
Jesus,  who  came  to  his  exaltation  of  glory  on  the  25th  of  March,  the  Vernal  equi- 
nox. "  The  equinoxes  and  solstices,"  says  Higgins,  "  equally  marked  the  births 
and  deaths  of  John  and  Jesus."  The  one  preceded  and  prepared  the  way  for  the 
other,  who  receded.  One  advanced,  the  other  declined.  Jesus  ascended,  John 
descended.  Astrologically  speaking,  "  He  must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease.  " 
(John  iii,  30.) 

SCORPIO,  the  Scorpion.  —  The  eighth  sign  of  the  zodiac,  which  the  sun  enters 
on  the  23d  of  October,  is  marked  thus  11\.  Scorpio  is  fabled  to  have  killed 
the  great  hunter  Orion,  and  for  that  exploit  to  have  been  placed  among  the  con- 
stellations. For  this  reason  it  is  also  said  that  when  Scorpio  rises  Orion  sets. 

SAGITTARIUS,  the  Archer:  (marked  thus.  $,)  is  the  ninth  zodiacal  sign,  and 
corresponds  with  the  month  of  November.  This  sign  is  represented  like  a  centaur 
and  was  fabled  to  be  Crotus,  the  son  of  Eupheme.  the  nurse  of  the  Muses. 

CAPRICORNUS,  the  Goat.  (!£>)— The  tenth  sign  of  the  zodiac,  which  the  sun  enters 
the  2ist  of  December,  (the  longest  night  in  the  year,)  called  the  winter  solstice. 


APPENDIX. 

This  sign  is  drawn  to  represent  the  horns  of  a  goat,  and  is  fabled  to  have  been 
Pan,  who  in  the  war  of  the  giants  was  taken  to  heaven  in  the  shape  of  a  goat. 
Others  claim  that  it  was  the  goat  of  Amalthasa,  which  fed  Jupiter  with  her  milk. 
Macrobius,  who  calls  Cancer  and  Capricorn  the  gates  of  the  sun,  makes  the  latter 
sign  to  represent  his  motion,  after  the  manner  of  a  goat  climbing  the  mountains. 

AQUARIUS,  the  Water  Bearer.— A  constellation  in  the  heavens  so  called,  be- 
cause during  its  rising  there  is  usually  an  abundance  of  rain.  It  is  the  eleventh 
sign  in  the  zodiac,  reckoned  from  Aries,  and  is  marked  thus,  n.  It  rises  in 
January  and  sets  in  February,  and  is  supposed  by  the  poets  to  be  Ganymede. 

PISCES,  the  Fishes,  (>O- — The  twelfth  sign  of  the  zodiac,  rises  in  February  and 
is  represented  by  two  fishes  tied  together  by  the  tails.  These  fishes  are  fabled  by 
the  Greeks  to  be  those  into  which  Venus  and  Cupid  were  changed  to  escape  from 
the  giant  Typhon.  This  fable  may  not  be  true,  but  that  wonderful  miracles  were 
once  performed  with  two  small  fishes  is  stated  in  the  ninth  chapter  of  the  Gospel 
of  St.  Luke,  where  it  is  said  that  5000  hungry  mortals  were  cheaply,  if  not  sumptu- 
ously regaled  with  two  small  fishes  and  five  loaves  of  bread  ;  while  a  large  surplus 
of  this  piscatory  diet,  larger  indeed  than  the  original  stock,  still  remained  intact. 

In  the  vestibule  or  approaches  to  catholic  churches  is  usually  found  a  vase 
filled  with  water,  (called  Piscina,)  and  this  water  is  considered  holy.  The  Fish- 
days  are  observed  as  holy  days,  or  fast  days,  in  which  Fish  may  be  eaten  and 
meat  is  forbidden;  and  learned  writers  have  asserted  that  in  the  worship  of 
Pisces  may  be  found  the  true  secret  of  the  origin  of  the  rite  of  baptism.  The 
Fish-god  Cannes,  is  said  to  have  come  out  of  the  Erythraean  Sea  and  taught  the 
Babylonians  all  kinds  of  useful  knowledge.  lonnes  or  yonas  went  headlong  into 
the  sea  and  into  a  fish,  and  has  kindly  recorded  for  our  instruction  his  remarkable 
adventures.  The  miraculous  draughts  of  fishes  in  the  apostolic  age  still  excite 
the  emulation  of  modern  fishermen,  who  cannot  even  hope  to  rival  the  wonders 
that  have  been  recorded.  St.  Peter  is  said  to  have  secured  ready  money  from  the 
mouth  of  a  fish  that  he  caught  with  a  hook  and  line  in  the  sea  of  Galilee.  (Matthew 
xvii,  27.)  His  success  was  justly  rewarded,  and  to  him  was  delegated  the  power 
of  ruling  the  infant  church.  Pisces  thus  displaced  Aries.  The  fisherman  suc- 
ceeded the  shepherd.  The  precession  of  the  equinoxes  produced  a  new  avatar ; 
a  new  sign  arose  in  the  heavens ;  and  a  new  saviour  was  born  to  save  mankind. 
THE  CONSTELLATIONS. 

SIRIUS,  the  Dog  Star.  —  A  bright  star  of  the  first  magnitude  in  the  mouth  of  the 
constellation  Cam's  Major.  This  is  the  brightest  star  that  appears  in  our  firma- 
ment, and  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  nearest. 

LEPUS.  —  One  of  the  southern  constellations,  placed  near  Orion,  according  to 
Grecian  fable,  because  it  was  one  of  the  animals  which  he  hunted. 

ERIDANUS.  —  A  winding  southern  constellation, near  the  Cetus,  containing  the 
bright  star  Achemar. , 

CETUS,  the  Whale. — A  southern  constellation,  and  one  of  the  forty-eight  old 
asterisms.  It  is  fabled  to  have  been  the  sea  monster  sent  by  Neptune  to  devour 
Andromeda,  which  was  killed  by  Perseus. 

CRATER,  the  Cup.  — A.  southern  constellation,  near  Hydra.  This  is  supposed 
by  Hyainus  to  be  the  cup  which  Apollo  gave  to  the  Corvus,  or  Raven. 

CORVUS.  —  One  of  the  old  constellations  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  near  Sag- 
ittarius. This  bird  is  fabled  to  have  been  translated  to  heaven  by  Apollo  for 
discovering  to  him  the  infidelity  of  the  nymph  Coronis. 

ARGO  NAVIS,  the  Ship.  —A  constellation  near  to  the  Cam's  Major,  and  the  name 
of  the  ship  which  carried  Jason  and  his  fifty-four  companions  to  Colchis  in  quest 
of  the  golden  fleece,  and  was  said  to  have  been  translated  into  the  heavens. 


APPENDIX. 

CANOPUS.  —  The  name  formerly  given  to  a  star  in  the  second  bend  of  Eridanus. 
A  bright  star  of  the  first  magnitude  in  the  rudder  of  the  ship  Argo,  which,  ac- 
cording to  Pliny,  was  visible  at  Alexandria  in  Egypt. 

CBNTAURUS. — One  of  the  forty-eight  old  constellations  in  the  southern  hem- 
isphere, represented  in  the  form  of  half  man  and  half  horse,  who  was  fabled  by 
the  Greeks  to  have  been  Chiron,  the  tutor  of  Achilles. 

AVA,  or  ALTAR.  — One  of  the  old  constellations,  and  fabled  to  have  been  that  at 
which  the  giants  entered  into  their  conspiracy  against  the  gods ;  wherefore 
Jupiter,  in  commemoration  of  the  event,  transplanted  the  altar  into  the  heavens. 

PEGASUS.  —  One  of  the  forty-eight  old  constellations  of  the  northern  hemis- 
phere, figured  in  the  form  of  a  flying  horse. 

DELPHINUS,  or  DOLPHIN.  — A  northern  constellation,  near  Pegasus.  The  Dol- 
phin is  fabled  to  have  been  translated  to  heaven  by  Neptune. 

AQUILA,  the  Eagle. —  In  the  Arabic  Altair,  but  in  the  Persian  tables  the  Flying 
Vulture.  This  is  one  of  the  old  constellations,  situated  near  Delphinus  in  the 
northern  hemisphere.  According  to  Grecian  fable,  Aquila  represented  Ganymede 
or  Hebe,  who  was  transported  to  heaven  and  made  cup-bearer  to  Jupiter. 

SAGITTA  —  the  Dart  or  Arrow,  called  by  the  Arabians  Schahan.  One  of  the 
old  constellations  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  near  Aquila  and  Delphinus.  It  is 
fabled  to  have  been  the  arrow  with  which  Hercules  slew  the  vulture  that  was  de- 
vouring the  liver  of  Prometheus  who  was,  like  Jesus, crucified  for  loving  mankind. 

CVGNUS,  the  Swan.  —  An  old  constellation  in  the  milky-way,  between  Equus 
and  the  Dragon.  This  is  fabled  to  be  the  swan  into  which  Jupiter  transformed 
himself  in  order  to  deceive  the  virtuous  Leda,  wife  of  Tyndareus,  king  of  Sparta. 
The  Grecian  matron,  like  the  Jewish  virgin,  thus  became  the  mother  of  a  God. 

LYRA. — A  northern  constellation  between  Hercules  and  Cygnus,  containing  a 
white  star  of  the  first  magnitude. 

MILKY-WAY.  —.Galaxy,  or  Via  Lactia.  — A  broad  luminous  path  or  circle  en- 
compassing the  heavens,  which  is  easily  discernible  by  its  white  appearance, 
from  which  it  derives  its  name.  It  is  supposed  to  be  the  blended  light  of  innu- 
merable fixed  stars,  which  are  not  distinguishable  with  ordinary  telescopes. 

HYDRA,  the  Serpent.  —  A  southern  constellation  of  great  length,  which  is  drawn 
to  represent  a  serpent.  The  Hydra  is  fabled  to  have  been  placed  in  the  heavens 
by  Apollo,  to  frighten  the  Raven  from  drinking. 

ORION,  the  Hunter. — A  constellation  of  the  southern  hemisphere  with  respect 
to  the  ecliptic,  but  half  southern  and  half  northern  with  respect  to  the  equinoctial. 
It  is  placed  near  the  feet  of  the  bull,  and  is  composed  of  seventeen  stars  in  the 
form  of  a  sword, which  has  given  occasion  to  the  poets  to  speak  of  Orion's  sword. 
He  was  described  by  the  Greeks  as  a  "mighty  hunter,"  who  for  his  exploits 
was  placed  in  the  heavens  by  Jupiter,  between  the  Canis  and  the  Lepus.  He  is 
believed  by  many  to  have  been  the  "  mighty  hunter  "  spoken  of  in  the  bible, 
under  the  name  of  Nimrod.  (See  Gen.  x:  8,  9;  rChron.  i:  10;  Michav:  6, 
Job  ix,  9;  Amos  v,  8.) 

PERSEUS. — This  constellation  is  named  from  Perseus,  the  son  of  Jupiter  by 
Danae,  who  was  translated  into  the  heavens  by  the  assistance  of  Minerva,  for 
having  released  Andromeda  from  her  confinement  on  the  rock  to  which  she  was 
chained.  He  is  represented  in  the  preceding  illustration  holding  a  drawn  sword 
in  his  right  hand  and  in  his  left  the  head  of  Medusa,  the  Gorgon,  whose  ter- 
rifying appearance  changed  all  who  beheld  her  into  stone,  and  whom  he  had 
destroyed  with  the  assistance  of  the  wings  he  had  borrowed  from  Mercury,  the 
helmet  from  Pluto,  the  sword  from  Vulcan,  and  the  shield  from  Minerva. 


APPENDIX. 

JOSEPH'S  STABLE  ;  AURIGA,  the  Wagoner :— A  northern  constellation  between 
Perseus  and  Gemini,  represented  by  the  figure  of  an  old  man  supporting  a  goat. 
He  is  said  to  have  been  taken  to  heaven  by  Jupiter  after  the  invention  of  wagons. 

URSA  MAJOR,  the  Bear. — One  of  the  prominent  northern  constellations,  situated 
near  the  north  pole.  It  contains  the  stars  called  the  Dipper.  Ursa  Minor  con- 
tains the  pole-star,  which  is  shown  in  the  extremity  of  the  tail  of  the  bear. 

ANDROMEDA. — A  northern  constellation,  represented  by  a  woman  chained  ;  as, 
according  to  Grecian  fable,  Andromeda,  the  daughter  of  Cassiopia,  was  bound 
to  a  rock  by  the  Nereides,  and  afterwards  released  by  Perseus.  Minerva  changed 
her  into  a  constellation  after  her  death,  and  placed  her  in  the  heavens. 

DRACO  OR  DRAGON. — A  northern  constellation,  supposed  to  represent  the 
Dragon  that  guarded  the  Hesperian  fruit,  and  was  killed  by  Hercules.  It  is 
said  that  Juno  took  it  up  to  heaven  and  placed  it  among  the  constellations. 

Boons,  the  Ox  driver :  so  called  because  this  constellation  seems  to  follow  the 
Great  Bear  as  the  driver  follows  his  oxen.  Bootis  is  represented  as  grasping  in 
his  right  hand  a  sickle  and  in  his  left  a  club,  and  is  fabled  to  have  been  Icarius, 
who  was  transported  to  heaven  because  he  was  a  great  cultivator  of  the  vine ;  for 
when  Bootes  rises  the  works  of  ploughing  and  cultivation  go  forward. 

CORONA  BOREALIS.  Northern  Crown.— One  of  the  old  northern  constellations, 
between  Hercules  and  Bootes. 

CORONA  AUSTRALIS. — Southern  Crown. — One  of  the  old  constellations  in  the 
southern  hemisphere,  between  Sagittarius  and  Scorpio.  The  Corona  were  fabled 
to  be  Menippe  and  Metioche,  two  daughters  of  Orion,  who  sacrificed  themselves 
at  the  suggestion  of  an  oracle,  to  protect  Boeotia,  their  native  country,  from  the 
ravages  of  a  pestilence :  it  being  the  belief  of  idolatrous  nations  that  an  angry 
god  could  be  propitiated  by  human  sacrifices,  and  that  the  death  of  the  innocent 
might  atone  for  the  sins  of  the  guilty.  The  deities  of  Hades  were  astonished, 
it  is  said,  at  the  patriotism  and  devotion  of  these  Grecian  maidens,  who  had  so 
generously  and  uselessly  sacrificed  their  lives.  After  their  death  two  stars  were 
seen  to  issue  from  the  altars  that  still  smoked  with  their  blood,  and  these  stars 
were  placed  in  the  heavens  in  the  form  of  a  crown  or  coronet. 

CEPHEUS  AND  CASSIOPIA.  —  One  of  the  old  asterism  in  the  northern  hemisphere, 
near  the  pole.  According  to  Grecian  fables,  Cassiopia  and  her  husband  Cepheus, 
.  king  of  Etheopia,  were  placed  among  the  constellations  to  witness  the  punishment 
inflidled  on  their  daughter,  Andromeda. 

TRIANGULARIUM. — A  name  for  both  one  of  the  old  and  new  constellations  in 
the  northern  hemisphere,  between  Andromeda  and  Aries. 

SERPENTARIUS,  called  Ophiucus,  is  a  constellation  in  the  northern  hemis- 
phere, between  Scorpio  and  Hercules. 

HERCULES,  one  of  the  old  northern  constellations.  In  Grecian  mythology  it 
was  taught  and  believed  that  Hercules,  the  Theban,  was  born  of  a  human  mother 
and  an  immortal  father,  like  other  so-called  saviours  of  mankind.  His  mother, 
the  fair  Alcmena,  wife  of  Amphitryon,  having  found  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  god 
Jupiter,  soon  fell  an  unwilling  victim  to  his  celestial  wiles.  The  life  of  the  infant 
Hercules,  born  of  this  unnatural  union,  was  threatened  by  the  jealous  Juno,  the 
same  as  the  life  of  the  infant  Jesus  was  threatened  by  the  tyrant  Herod.  Like 
Jesus,  Hercules  devoted  his  life  to  the  benefit  of  the  human  race,  and  like 
Jesus  he  was  also  worshipped  after  his  death  as  a  God  in  heaven.  He  is  shown  in 
the  astrological  chart,  enveloped  in  the  skin  of  the  lion  he  has  slain,  with  his  club 
upraised,  and  his  foot  placed  threateningly  above  the  head  of  the  Dragon,  as  if 
about  to  fulfill  the  scriptural  prophecy,  that  "  the  seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise 
the  serpent's  head." 


teral  ©lassies,  (mo- 


History  of  Christianity 

Comprising  all  that  relates  to  the  Christian  religion  in  "  The  History  of  the  Decline 
and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  and,  also, 

-*A  VINDICATION*- 

(never  b«fore  published  in  this  country,) 

of  "  SOME  PASSAGES  IN  THE  FIFTEENTH  AND  SIXTEENTH  CHAPTERS,"  by 

EDWARD   GIBBON,   ESQ. 

With  a  Preface,  Life  of  the  Author,  and  Notes  by  PETER  ECKLER  ;  also,  Variorum 

Notes  by  GUIZOT,  WENCK,  MII.MAN,  "an  ENGLISH  CHURCHMAN,"  and 

other  scholars. 

One  vol.,  Post  8ro,  864  pages,  with  Portrait  of  Gibbon  and  numerous  Engravings  of 
mythological  divinities.    Ex.  vellum  cloth,  $2.00;  half  calf,  $4.00. 


"  This  important  work  contains  Gibbon's  complete  Theological  writings,  separate  from  his 
historical  and  miscellaneous  works,  showing  when,  where,  and  how  Christianity  originated ; 
•who  were  its  founders ;  and  what  were  the  sentiments,  character,  manners,  numbers  and  con- 
dition of  the  primitive  Christians.  What  has  been  said  by  Christians  in  regard  to  the  Origin 
of  Christianity  is  reprinted  from  the  valuable  notes  of  Dean  Milman,  Wenck,  Gnizot,  and  other 
eminent  Christian  historians  who  have  edited  Gibbon's  works :  and  the  pious  but  scholarly 
remarks  of  the  learned  editor  of  BOHN'S  edition  of  Gibbon  are  also  given  in  full.  Among  the 
numerous  illustrations  will  be  found  representations  of  the  principal  divinities  of  the  Pagan 
mythology.  The  sketch  of  the  author's  life  adds  value  and  interest  to  the  book,  which  is  not 
only  well  edited  and  printed,  but  substantially  bound.  It  will  be  a  treasure  for  all  libraries." 
—  The  Magazine  of  American  History. 


©lassies,  (&o.  2.) 


Voltaire's  Romances, 

A  New  Edition,  Profusely  Illustrated. 


"I  choose  that  a  story  should  be  founded  on  probability,  and  not  always  resemble  a 
"  dream.    I  desire  to  find  nothing  in  it  trivial  or  extravagant ;  and  I  desire  above  all, 
that  under  the  appearance  of  fable,  there  may  appear  some  latent  truth,  obvious  to 
the  discerning  eye,  though  it  escape  the  observation  of  the  vulgar." —  Voltaire. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  WHITE  BULL;  a  Satirical  Romance. 
ZADIG  ;  OR  FATE.    An  Oriental  History. 
THE  SAGE  AND  THE  ATHEIST. 
THE  PRINCESS  OF  BABYLON. 
THE  MAN  OF  FORTY  CROWNS. 
THE  HURON;  OR  PUPIL  OF  NATURE. 
MICROMEGAS.    A  satire  on  mankind. 
THE  WORLD  AS  IT  GOES. 
THE  BLACK  AND  THE  WHITE. 
MEMNON  THE  PHILOSOPHER. 
ANDRE  DBS  TOUCHES  AT  SIAM. 


BABABEC. 

THE  STUDY  OF  NATURE. 

A  CONVERSATION  WITH  A  CHINESE. 

PLATO'S  DREAM. 

A  PLEASURE  IN  HAVING  NO  PLEASURE. 

AN  ADVENTURE  IN  INDIA. 

JEANNOT  AND  COLIN, 

TRAVELS  OF  SCARMENTADO. 

THE  GOOD  BRAMIN. 

THE  Two  COMFORTERS, 

ANCIENT  FAITH  AND  FABLE. 


Ono  Tol.,  post  8vo,  480  pages,  with  Portrait  and  82  Illustrations.     Paper,  $1.00; 
Extra  Tellnm  elotli,  $1.50 ;  half  calf,  $4.00. 


Voltaire's  satire  was  as  keen  and  fine  pointed  as  a  rapier. — Magazine  of  Am,  History. 
A  delightful  reproduction,  unique  and  refreshing.  —  Boston  Commonwealth. 


dassits.  (So.  8.) 


FORCE  AND  MATTER 


Principles  of  the  Natural  Order  of  the  Universe, 

WITH  A  SYSTEM  OF   MORALITY   BASED  THEREON. 

BY 

PROF.    LUDWIG   BUCHNER,   M.  D. 


A  scientific  and  rationalistic  work  of  great  merit  and  ability.   Translated  from  the  ist 
German  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged  by  the  author,  and  reprinted  from 

the  fourth  English  edition. 
One  volume,  post  8vo,  414  pages,  with  portrait,  vellum  cloth,  {1.50 ;  half  calf,  $3.00. 


Force  and  Matter, 
Immortality  of  Matter, 
Immortality  of  Force, 
Infinity  of  Matter, 
Value  of  Matter, 
Motion,  Form, 

Immutability  of  Natural 

Laws, 
Universality  of  Natural 

Laws, 


COSTTEIfcTTS  : 
The  Heavens, 
Periods  of  the  Creation  o 

the  Earth, 

Original  Generation, 
Secular  Generation, 
The  Fitness  of  Things  in 

Nature,  (Teleology), 
Man, 

Brain  und  Mind, 
Thought, 


Consciousness, 

Seat  of  the  Soul, 

Innate  Ideas, 

The  Idea  of  God, 

Personal  Continuance, 

Vital  Force, 

The  Soul  of  Brutes, 

Free  Will, 

Morality, 

Concluding-  Observations. 


Classics,  ®o. 


PROFESSION  OF  FAITH 

—  OF   THE  — 

VIGAR  OF  SAVOY. 

Translated  from  the  French  of 

JEAN  JACQUES   ROUSSEAU, 


CITIZEN  OF  GENEVA. 
ALSO, 


-  A  SEARCH  FOR  TRUTH.  - 

BY  OLIVE  SCHREINER. 
Post  8ro,  128  pp.,  with  Portrait ;  now  plates,  large  type.    Cloth  50c.,  paper  25e. 


"  The  superiority  of  the  skeptical  parts  of  the  Savoyard  Vicar's  profession  over  the 
fashionable  method  of  assault,  lay  in  the  fact  that  while  the  latter  only  revolted  and 
irritated  all  serious  temperaments  to  whom  religion  is  a  matter  of  honest  concern,  the 
former  actually  appealed  to  their  religious  sense  in  support  of  his  doubts ;  and  the  more 
intelligent  and  sincere  this  sense  happened  to  be,  the  more  eurely  would  Rousseau's 
gravely  urged  objections  dissolve  the  hard  particles  of  dogmatic  belief.— John  Mortey. 


Classics,  (S0. 5.) 


Superstition  in  all  Ages 

OR,   "LE  BON  SENS," 

*BY  JEAN  MESLIER,* 

A  ROMAN  CATHOLIC  PRIEST, 

Who,  after  a  pastoral  service  of  thirty  years  in  France,  wholly  ab- 
jured religious  dogmas,  and  asked  God's  pardon  for  having  taught 
the  Christian  religion.  He  left  this  volume  as  his  last  Will  and 
Testament  to  his  parishioners  and  to  the  world, 

TRANSLATED   FROM   THE   FRENCH   ORIGINAL  BY 

MISS  ANNA  KNOOP. 


Port  STO,  389  pages,  with  Portrait.    Paper,  50  cts. ;  cloth,  $1.00 ;  half  calf,  $3.00. 
The  same  work  in  German.    Cloth,  $1.00. 


The  work  of  the  honest  pastor  is  the  most  curious  and  the  most  powerful  thing  of 
the  kind  that  the  last  century  produced.  .  .  Paine  and  Voltaire  had  reserves,  but 
Jean  Meslier  had  none.  He  keeps  nothing  back  ;  and  yet,  after  all,  the  wonder  is  not 
that  there  should  have  been  one  priest  who  left  that  testimony  at  his  death,  but  that  all 
priests  do  not. — fames  Parton. 


Classics,  (So.  6.) 


A  NEW  EDITION,   JUST  PUBLISHED,   OF 


VOLNEY'S    RUINS 


THE  LAW  OF  NATURE, 

TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED 

VOLNEY'S  ANSWER  TO  DR.  PRIESTLY,  A  BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTICE 
BY  COUNT  DARU,  AND  THE  ZODIACAL  SIGNS  AND 

CONSTELLATIONS  BY  THE  EDITOR; 
Also,  a  Map  of  the  Astrological  Heaven  of  the  Ancients. 


Printed  on  heavy  paper,  from  new  plates,  in  large  clear  type,  with  portrait  and  illus- 
trations.   One  vol.,  post  8vo,  248  pages  ;  Paper,  500.  ;  cloth,  ysc.  ;  half-calf,  $3.00. 

• 

This  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  and  most  useful  books  ever  published.  It  eloquently 
advocates  the  beat  interests  of  mankind,  and  clearly  points  out  the  sources  of  human  ignor- 
ance and  misery.  The  author  is  supposed  to  meet  in  the  ruins  of  Palmyra  an  apparition  or 
phantom,  which  explains  the  true  principles  of  society,  and  the  causes  of  both  the  pros- 
perity and  the  ruin  of  ancient  states.  A  general  assembly  of  the  nations  is  at  length 
convened,  a  legislative  body  formed,  the  source  and  origin  of  religion,  of  government, 
and  of  laws  discussed,  and  fhe  Law  of  Nature—  founded  on  justice  and  equity—  is  finally 
proclaimed  to  an  expectant  world. 

"  VOLNEY'S  Ruins  will  be  read  with  as  much  interest  to-day  as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago. 
It  is  a  book  that  was  born  to  immortality  and  a  hundred  years  to  come  it  will  be  as  fresh  as 
it  is  to-day"—  Beliyio-Philosophical  Journal. 


^iberal  Classics,  (So.  3.) 


Christian  Paradoxes. 

Tne  Cnaraoters  of  a  Believing  Christian  in 
Paradoxes  and  Seeming  Contradictions, 

BY 

FRANCIS    BACON,    (LORD  VERULAM.) 


16  pages,  post  8vo,  with  portrait.    Paper  cover,  10  cent*. 


From  the  doubts  these  Paradoxes  imply,  it  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  that 
Bacon  was  of  those  who  believe  that  religion  should  be  taught  in  a  symbolical 
and  mystical  language  that  the  initiated  and  learned  few  may  understand,  and 
the  great  multitude  believe  ;  and  also  that  its  true  meaning  should  be  veiled  and 
hidden  in  paradoxes  and  parables,  "that  seeing  they  may  see  and  not  perceive, 
and  hearing  they  may  hear  and  not  understand."— Preface. 


gilxeral  (Classics,  (Ho.  7.) 


THE  WORKS  OF  THOMAS  PAINE. 


The  Age  of  Reason  ;  being  an  investigation  of  True  and  Fabulous 
Theology.  A  new  and  complete  edition,  from  new  plates  and 
new  type ;  186  pages,  post  8vo.  Paper  25  &.s. ;  cloth  50  fts. 

Common.  Sense.  A  Revolutionary  pamphlet,  addressed  to  the  in- 
habitants of  America  in  1776.  With  an  Explanatory  Notice  by 
an  English  author.  Uniform  with  the  above,  15  6ts. 

The  Crisis.  Written  in  the  "  times  that  tried  men's  souls  "  during  the 
American  Revolution.  Paper,  40  fts. ;  cloth,  75  <5ls. 

The  Rights  of  Man.  Being  an  answer  to" Mr.  Burke's  attack  upon 
the  French  Revolution.  Paper  50  fts. ;  cloth  75  ds. 

Paine's  Political  Works.  —  Common  Sense,  Crisis,  Rights  of 
Man.  Cloth,  $1.50 

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the  Prophecies,  etc.,  $1.50. 

Paine's  Works.     Popular  edition,    i  vol.,  800  pp.,  cloth,  $3.00. 

Paine's  Complete  Works.  Consisting  of  his  Political,  Theological 
and  Miscellaneous  Writings;  to  which  is  added  a  brief  Sketch 
of  his  Life.  Three  volumes,  1,537  pages,  8vo,  cloth,  $7.00. 

Life  of  Thomas  Paine.    By  GILBERT  VALE.      Cloth,    $1.00. 


Rob't  G.  Ingersoll's  Writings. 


ONLY   AUTHORIZED   EDITIONS. 


Lectures    Complete.    In  One  Volume:  Half  Morocco, 
Containing  over  1^00  pages.     Price,  $5.00. 

Prose  Poems  and  Selections,  in  sot  doth,  $2.50:  in  half  calf,  ftso; 

in  full  Turkey  morocco,  gilt,  17.50  ;  in  full  tree  calf;  $9.00. 

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Thomas  Paine,  Individuality,  Heretics  and  Heresies.    Paper  50c.  ;  cloth,  $1.25. 

The  GhOStS  and  Other  Lectures.  Including  Liberty  of  Man,  Woman, 
and  Child,  The  Declaration  of  Independence,  About  Farming  in  Illinois,  Speech 
Nominating  James  G.  Elaine  for  Presidency  in  1876,  The  Grant  Banquet,  A  Tribute  to 
Rev.  Alex.  Clarke,  The  Past  Rises  Before  Me  Like  a  Dream,  and  A  Tribute  to  Ebon 
C.  IngersolL  Paper,  50c.  ;  cloth,  $1.25. 

Some  Mistakes  Of  MoseS.  Contents:  Some  Mistakes  of  Moses,  Free 
Schools,  The  Politicians,  Man  and  Woman,  The  Pentateuch,  Monday,  Tuesday, 
Wednesday,  Thursday,  He  Made  the  Stars  Also.  Friday,  Saturday,  Let  Us  Make  Man, 
Sunday,  The  Necessity  for  a  Good  Memory,  The  Garden,  The  Fall,  Dampness,  Bac- 
chus and  Babel,  Faith  in  Filth,  The  Hebrews,  The  Plagues,  The  Flight,  Confess 
and  Avoid;  Inspired  Slavery,  Marriage,  War,  Religious  Liberty;  Conclusion. 
Paper,  50c.  ;  cloth,  fl.25. 

Interviews  On  Talmage.  Being  Six  Interviews  with  the  Famous  Orator 
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Talmagian  Catechism.  Paper,  50c.  ;  cloth,  $1.26.  • 


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Blasphemy.  Argument  by  R.  G.  Ingersoll  in  the  Trial  01  C.  B.  Reynolds,  at 
Morristown,*N.  J.  Paper,  25c.  ;  cloth,  50c. 

What  MllSt  We  Do  To  Be  Saved  ?  Analyzes  the  so-called  gospeis 
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sword  and  of  flame.  Paper,  25  cents. 


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